KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 13): Bursa Malaysia remained in negative territory at midday due to profit taking in selected heavyweights, led by Public Bank Bhd and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (PetChem).

Both counters dragged the composite index down by a combined 7.46 points.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI contracted by 14.9 points to 1,483.06 from Monday's close of 1,497.96.

The benchmark index opened 0.56 points lower at 1,497.4.

On the broader market, decliners led gainers 440 to 277, while 387 counters were unchanged, 1,237 untraded and nine others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.38 billion units worth RM817.18 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of Equity Research Thong Pak Leng said despite global developments, selling pressure from large institutions had weighed on the FBM KLCI.

“The decline in the FBM KLCI is mainly due to profit taking as resistance is very strong. Investors are cautious and still in the wait-and-see condition, but there might be some buying later today (Tuesday, Sept 13)," he told Bernama.

As such, Thong expects the FBM KLCI to trend sideways on Tuesday, hovering within the 1,480-1,490 range.  

Among the heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) fell four sen to RM8.95, Public Bank reduced eight sen to RM4.54, PetChem shed 16 sen to RM8.73, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd slid five sen to RM5.42, and IHH Healthcare Bhd trimmed two sen to RM6.19.

Of the actives, CSH Alliance Bhd eased half-a-sen to four sen, while Impiana Hotels Bhd, too, declined half-a-sen to two sen. Metronic Global Bhd was flat at three sen, Cypark Resources Bhd added 6.5 sen to 41.5 sen, and MyEG Services Bhd gained three sen to 88.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 80.31 points to 10,575.28, the FBMT 100 Index contracted 82.64 points to 10,316.96, the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 47.58 points to 10,675.37, the FBM 70 lost 18.42 points to 12,825.55 and the FBM ACE was 23.73 points lower at 4,870.46.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index declined 19.32 points to 6,958.1, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 1.59 points to 183.59 and the Financial Services Index dropped 202.29 points to 16,683.53, while the Energy Index bagged 4.79 points to 721.25.