Kuala lumpur: Bursa Malaysia remained lower in mid-afternoon trade, weighed down by persistent profit-taking on selected blue chips amid tepid trading activity. At 3.05 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 11.85 points to 1,672.68 from Tuesday's close of 1,684.53. The index opened 2.75 points lower at 1,681.78.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, the market breadth was negative with decliners outnumbering advancers 554 to 301, while 546 counters remained unchanged, 1,285 were untraded, and 41 suspended. Turnover totaled 1.09 billion units worth RM806.76 million. Among the heavyweights, Maybank dropped six sen to RM10.44, CIMB lost 10 sen to RM8.13, Public Bank fell seven sen to RM4.47, Tenaga Nasional lost eight sen to RM13.70, and IHH eased three sen to RM8.57.

On the most active list, Tanco and Inari Amertron put on one sen each to RM1.16 and RM1.71, respectively, while Zetrix gave up one sen to 81 sen, and Mega Fortis added half a sen to 88.5 sen. Of the top gainers, Nestle garnered 40 sen to RM113.80, Petronas Dagangan gained 18 sen to RM20.04, Dutch Lady rose 18 sen to RM30.98, and Magna Prima added 12 sen to 69.5 sen.

As for the top losers, MPI shed 54 sen to RM32.34, F and N lost 24 sen to RM35.48, Petronas Gas shed 24 sen to RM18.12, and Hong Leong Financial slid 22 sen to RM18.98. On the index board, the FBM Emas Index slipped 58.90 points to 12,269.64, the FBMT Top 100 Index declined 65.71 points to 12,070.68, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 30.19 points to 12,089.38.

The FBM Mid 70 Index went down 2.10 points to 16,828.35, and the FBM ACE Index lost 13.21 points to 4,848.09. Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index shaved 170.79 points to 19,596.00 and the Plantation Index shrank 44.47 points to 8,297.72, while the Energy Index was down 3.01 points to 765.72. The Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.02 of a point to 173.85.