Accra:Bursa Malaysia Bursa Malaysia continued to experience a downturn at midday due to ongoing selling pressure in selected heavyweight counters. At 1230 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) decreased by 10.75 points, or 0.66 percent, reaching 1,612.95, down from Thursday's close of 1,623.70. The benchmark index, which started 1.13 points higher at 1,624.83, fluctuated between 1,611.74 and 1,626.34 during the morning trading session.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, in the broader market, the number of gainers surpassed losers, with 520 gainers against 414 losers. Meanwhile, 438 counters remained unchanged, 1,471 were untraded, and 33 were suspended. The turnover was reported at 1.90 billion units worth RM1.43 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd's vice-president of equity research, Thong Pak Leng, predicts that the benchmark index will remain within a narrow range of 1,615 to 1,625 today. Among heavyweight counters, Maybank fell by nine sen to RM9.99, Public Bank increased by eight sen to RM4.82, and CIMB dipped 17 sen to RM7.31. Tenaga Nasional remained stable at RM12.98, while IHH Healthcare edged up one sen to RM7.99.

In active trading, Zetrix AI fell half a sen to six sen, EGH International dropped two sen to 14 sen, and Ni Hsin slipped one sen to 41.5 sen. Conversely, VS Industry rose 1.5 sen to 34.5 sen, and Top Glove increased by one sen to 91 sen.

Among the top gainers, Vitrox surged 38 sen to RM10.70, Petronas Dagangan gained 28 sen to RM19.48, while Pekat Group and Malaysian Pacific Industries each rose by 22 sen to RM2.75 and RM40.62, respectively. Pentamaster Corporation climbed 20 sen to RM5.60.

Nestle led the decliners, dropping 84 sen to RM89.66. Press Metal Aluminium fell 51 sen to RM6.66, Kuala Lumpur Kepong decreased 42 sen to RM20.68, Petronas Gas declined by 26 sen to RM17.34, and Dutch Lady Milk Industries lost 24 sen to RM29.04.

On the index board, the FBM Mid 70 Index rose 48.61 points to 17,228.35, while the FBM Emas Index decreased 41.60 points to 12,031.91. The FBM Top 100 Index fell 49.84 points to 11,826.02, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index contracted by 44.73 points to 11,957.81. The FBM ACE Index, however, surged 103.96 points to 5,414.86.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index declined by 2.46 points to 174.46, the Plantation Index dropped 120.24 points to 8,723.63, and the Financial Services Index slid by 35.51 points to 18,791.13. Meanwhile, the Energy Index saw a slight increase of 0.75 points to 823.62.