KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 23 — Bursa Malaysia’s key index turned lower at mid-morning on lack of sustained buying interest.

At 11.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 2.16 points to 1,524.71 from 1,526.87 at Monday’s close.

The index opened 0.38 of-a-point better at 1,527.25.

On the broader market, decliners outpaced gainers 464 to 266, while 435 counters were unchanged, 1,171 untraded and 18 others suspended.

Total volume stood at 1.02 billion units worth RM736.43 million.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and TNB added one sen each to RM8.16 and RM9.51, respectively, while Petronas Chemicals, IHH Healthcare and CIMB were four sen higher at RM8.34, RM6.66 and RM5.20, respectively. Meanwhile, Public Bank was flat at RM4.07 and Press Metal eased five sen to RM5.69.

Of the actives, YBS International advanced 3.5 sen to 61.5 sen, Top Builders gained one sen to four sen, Tanco and MY E.G. were unchanged at 27 sen and RM1.05, Kejuruteraan Asastera shed half-a-sen to 33.5 sen, and NWP dropped 2.5 sen to 33 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index climbed 17.01 points to 11,228.25, the FBMT 100 Index declined 15.08 points to 10,881.40, the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 37.16 points to 12,174.61, the FBM ACE weakened 54.27 points to 6,739.30, and the FBM 70 erased 19.21 points to 14,732.03.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index bagged 19.74 points to 15,301.73, the Industrial Products and Services Index trimmed 0.45 of-a-point to 200.06, and the Plantation Index slipped 29.89 points to 6,655.54. — Bernama