Kuala Lumpur:Bursa Malaysia continued its downward trend by mid-afternoon, mirroring the performance of weaker regional markets.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, at 3:01 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell by 21.02 points to 1,612.33, compared to the previous day's close of 1,633.35. The index had opened slightly higher by 0.19 of a point at 1,633.54.

The broader market saw a larger number of decliners, with 663 stocks falling compared to 395 gainers, and 487 stocks remaining unchanged. Additionally, 1,245 counters were untraded, while 13 were suspended. Total turnover was recorded at 2.82 billion units valued at RM2.15 billion.

Among the heavyweights, Tenaga Nasional increased by four sen to RM12.94, while Maybank dropped seven sen to RM9.90. Public Bank fell by 10 sen to RM4.57, CIMB decreased by 39 sen to RM7.31, and IHH Healthcare was down by one sen to RM7.90.

In terms of actively traded stocks, Metronic Global rose by half a sen to one sen, whereas Top Glove decreased by 3.5 sen to 84 sen. Zetrix AI was down by 1.5 sen to 7.5 sen, VS Industry fell by half a sen to 32.5 sen, and Supermax Corporation dropped one sen to 45 sen.

The top gainers included Mi Technovation and Batu Kawan, which both rose by 36 sen to RM6.36 and RM19.64, respectively. Malaysian Pacific Industries increased by 14 sen to RM45.10, Petronas Dagangan climbed 22 sen to RM19.34, and Critical Holdings went up by 18 sen to RM2.87.

Nestle was the leading decliner, dropping RM1.88 to RM89.38. Fraser and Neave fell by 68 sen to RM21.04, Hong Leong Bank decreased by 44 sen to RM21.64, Hong Leong Financial Group was down by 36 sen to RM17.98, and AMMB fell by 29 sen to RM6.18.

On the index board, the FBM Mid 70 Index dropped by 26.49 points to 17,707.62, and the FBM Emas Index declined by 113.61 points to 12,119.26. The FBM Top 100 Index fell by 118.91 points to 11,896.87, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index edged down by 17.33 points to 12,141.65, and the FBM ACE Index weakened by 38.83 points to 5,620.09.

In sectoral performance, the Energy Index rose by 0.90 of a point to 841.62. Conversely, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down by 0.34 of a point to 180.07, the Financial Services Index slumped by 483.65 points to 18,584.35, and the Plantation Index fell by 70.91 points to 8,971.26.