KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI was down in morning trade but continued to hover above the psychological 1,750 level even as other regional markets maintained their firm footing.
Asian market were buoyed on expectations of strong earnings with Japan's Nikkei holding on to gains seen over the past two weeks and South Korea's Kospi going higher despite fresh provocations from North Korea.
At midday break, the KLCI was down 1.05 points to 1,753.32 points. Turnover was 1.58 billion shares with a value of RM878.3mil. Decliners beat advancers 338 to 242 with 517 counters unchanged.
CIMB weighed on the local index, dropping eight sen to RM6.16 as news surfaced about Khazanah Nasional's plans to sell a stake at between RM6.13 and RM6.24.
In other banking counters, RHB dipped four sen to RM5.11 and Ambank slipped two sen to RM4.51 while Hong Leong rose two sen to RM16.02 and Public Bank added two sen to RM20.48. Maybank was unchanged at RM9.46.
Hong Leong Finance was another laggard, shaving off 16 sen to RM16.80.
Plantation play IOI dropped one sen to RM4.52, KL Kepong slipped 10 sen to RM24.64, while PPB was unchanged at RM16.80.
Genting put on 13 sen to RM9.60 and Genting Malaysia added one sen to RM5.38.
Petronas Dagangan lost its gains from Monday's session as it dropped 74 sen to RM24.26. Other Petronas counters, Petronas Chemicals slipped two sen to RM7.33 and Petronas Gas gained two sen to RM18.70.
Meanwhile, telco major Telekom Malaysia lost nine sen to RM6.21 while Digi gained five sen to RM4.88, Maxis rose one sen to RM5.85 and Axiata added two sen to RM5.18.
On the broader market, Dialog rose 11 sen to a record high at RM2.26 while Wong Engineering continued to put on gains, rising eight sen to RM1.28 and Lii Hen Industries added nine sen to RM4.26.
Among the laggards, Padini slipped 12 sen to Rm4.65, Magni-Tech industries declined 19 sen to RM6.91 and Kawan Food dropped 13 sen to RM3.04.
Oil prices stayed firm on news that Kurdish operators briefly stopped output at two large Kirkuk fields as Iraqi forces seized the city from independence fighters.
WTI Crude slipped six cents to US$51.81 a barrel while Brent Crude rose one cent to US$57.83 a barrel.
On the forex market, the riggit traded 0.14% weaker against the greenback at 4.2233. It traded 0.19% stronger against the pound sterling at 5.5978 and 0.05% stronger against the Singapore dollar at 3.1167.
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