KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI looked set to continue its losing streak on Monday even as other regional markets firmed up on strong economic data coming out of China and Japan.
Markets in China and Hong Kong were closed for national holidays, while South Korea's markets remained shuttered for a designated "temporary holiday".
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was down 2.72 points to 1,752.86 points. There were 390 decliners versus 216 advancers and 429 counters unchanged. Turnover was 1.21 billion shares with a value of RM603.07mil.
The local bourse slumped even as reports came that foreign investors offloaded RM967.3mil in Malaysian equity last week, up from RM477.7mil the week before.
As at last Friday, foreign investors had been net sellers for eight straight days.
Telekom Malaysia was among the declining heavyweights in Monday morning trade as profit-taking saw it dip 17 sen to RM6.33.
UOB Kay Hian Malaysia Research said in a recent report that Telekom's mass market services (Streamyx, webe and UniFi) will be consolidated into a single brand under UniFi, which will help boost the webe subscriber base.