Kuala lumpur: Bursa Malaysia remained slightly lower by mid-afternoon, influenced by substantial selling in heavyweights, particularly Petronas Chemicals.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, by 3.04 pm, Petronas Chemicals' shares had decreased by 37 sen to RM2.88, with 23.24 million shares traded. The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) dropped 1.78 points to 1,615.79, down from the previous close of 1,617.57. It had initially opened 2.57 points higher at 1,620.14.

The market saw 557 decliners surpassing 447 gainers, with 521 stocks unchanged, 1,262 untraded, and 28 suspended. Total turnover reached 3.78 billion units valued at RM1.84 billion.

Among major stocks, Maybank, CIMB, and Public Bank each increased by two sen to RM9.96, RM7.48, and RM4.30, respectively, while IHH fell by six sen to RM8.06 and Press Metal remained steady at RM6.48.

On the active list, Tanco rose by two sen to RM1.06, NeXG advanced 1.5 sen to 40 sen, Zetrix lost 1.5 sen to 79.5 sen, and VS Industries stayed unchanged at 45 sen.

Top gainers included F and N, which increased by RM1.08 to RM33.70, BLD Plantation rising 50 sen to RM14.50, Dutch Lady up 40 sen to RM28.90, and Malaysian Pacific climbing 20 sen to RM30.98.

Conversely, top losers saw KPJ falling 14 sen to RM2.59, Arka dropping 12 sen to 73 sen, Master-Pack decreasing 10 sen to RM1.95, and Chin Teck sliding 12 sen to RM10.66.

Regarding the indices, the FBM Emas Index fell by 9.01 points to 11,987.80, the FBMT 100 Index declined by 7.02 points to 11,763.09, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased by 31.06 points to 11,961.62.

The FBM ACE Index decreased by 41.96 points to 4,899.63, while the FBM Mid 70 Index gained 15.94 points to 16,856.97. In terms of sectors, the Financial Services Index increased by 48.21 points to 18,424.21, the Plantation Index decreased by 6.34 points to 8,230.29, the Energy Index fell by 1.69 points to 754.27, and the Industrial Products and Services Index reduced by 1.96 points to 162.97.