KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia remained lower at midday, along with most regional markets, as rising oil prices caused by the Middle East conflict weighed on sentiment, said an analyst. 

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stepped back 2.60 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 1,632.69 from Monday's close. The benchmark index, which opened 3.66 points weaker at 1,631.63, moved between 1,629.22 and 1,633.60 throughout the session.

On the broader market, decliners outnumbered gainers 585 to 288, with 460 counters unchanged, 1,090 untraded and six suspended.  Turnover amounted to 1.89 billion units valued at RM1.11 billion.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd noted that Brent crude rallied above US$81 amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East, which could threaten Persian Gulf oil supplies, while gold hovered just below US$2,650. "Crude palm oil (CPO) traded nearer to RM4,400 ahead of the Deepavali festive season," it said in a note today.

The brokerage reckons traders may focus on oil and gas and plantation stocks going forward as crude oil and CPO prices rise. "We (also) expect mild accumulation in technology stocks due to the slightly weaker ringgit as the USD/MYR rebounded to RM4.27 from RM4.11 yesterday, but the upside may be capped due to the weaker Wall Street performance (overnight)," it said.

Among the heavyweight counters, Maybank lost two sen to RM10.48, Public Bank, CIMB and IHH Healthcare were all unchanged at RM4.56, RM7.96 and RM7.22, respectively, while Tenaga Nasional gained eight sen to RM14.06. 

Of the active counters, Velocity Capital eased half-a-sen to 6.5 sen while KHPT Holdings added 2.5 sen to 22.5 sen and 99 Speed Mart gained seven sen to RM2.40.  Bina Puri rose half-a-sen to 36.5 sen while Bumi Armada was unchanged at 51.5 sen. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index lost 32.69 points to 12,224.09, the FBMT 100 Index shed 26.83 points to 11,922.63 and the FBM 70 Index slid 68.35 points to 17,326.67. The FBM Emas Shariah Index went down 44.30 points to 12,129.39.   However, the FBM ACE Index firmed 0.48 of a point to 5,130.31.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index added 4.59 points to 7,216.81, the Financial Services Index shed 8.35 points to 19,182.42 and the Industrial Products and Services Index trimmed 0.73 of-a-point to 176.96. The Energy Index dropped 1.85 points to 897.20.