KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI started the day's session on a strong note rising to a peak of 1,728.18 points in mid-morning trade.
However, by midday it retraced to just 0.13 points higher at 1,723.67 points. Turnover was 1.14 billion shares with a value of RM716mil. There were 273 advancers to 326 decliners with 515 counters unchanged.
Asian stocks were relatively muted on Thursday as Japan's markets were closed for a national holiday while Wall Street trading slowed overnight ahead of the Thanksgiving break.
China's stocks, however, suffered a strong pullback on signs of tighteer liquidity even as Hong Kong's Hang Seng index held on to gains after climbing above 30,000 points in the previous session. At midday, the Shanghai Composite Index was down 29.6 points or 0.86% at 3,400.87 points.
Back home, CIMB was the strongest performer, moving up six sen to RM6.01. Genting Malaysia also lifted, gaining eight sen to RM2.86.
Other gainers included Digi, rising two sen to RM4.68; Maybank, adding one sen to RM9.22; MISC, putting on three sen to RM7.19; and Petronas Chemicals, gaining one sen to RM7.31.
Among decliners, Genting slipped 12 sen to RM9.17, Maxis dropped five sen to RM5.92, Sime Darby dipped four sen to RM8.95 , Tenaga Nasional lost four sen to RM14.82 and IOI Corp fell three sen to RM4.52.
On the wider market, oil refiner Petron Malaysia
rose 50 sen to RM12.46 while Hengyuan gained 40 sen to RM10.80.
Lysaght Galvanized Steel added 28 sen to RM3.78.
Decliners included Kimlun falling 11 sen to RM2.27, Harta slipping 13 sen to RM9.12 and Negri Sembilan Oil Palms falling 24 sen to RM3.70.
Meanwhile, crude oil prices remained buoyed by the shutdown of the Keystone pipeline and a drawdown in fuel inventories pointing to a tightening market, despite rising outpout, Reuters reported.
Us light crude was 13 cents lower at US$57.89 a barrel while Brent crude was 17 cents lower at US$63.15 a barrel.
In currencies, the ringgit moved 0.08% lower against the US dollar at 4.1145. It also weakened 0.6% against the pound sterling at 5.4841 and 0.31% against the Singapore dollar at 3.0533.
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