KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 10): Shares of Hong Leong Bank Bhd fell as much as 6.38% this morning, tracking the decline of the Bursa Malaysia Finance Index.

At 12.00pm, the stock pared its losses and was trading down 16 sen or 0.8% at RM20.54 after 792,400 shares exchanged hands.

The Bursa Malaysia Finance Index, which tracks financial institutions listed on the exchange, was down 3.67 points or 0.02%.

According to Bloomberg, Hong Leong Bank has a price-to-book ratio of 1.73, the second highest in the banking sector after Public Bank Bhd at 2.41.

Notable gainers within the sector so far this morning were RHB Bank Bhd (+0.56%) and Public Bank (+0.08%), while the losers were Malayan Banking Bhd (-0.21%) and Affin Bank Bhd (-0.9%).