KUALA LUMPUR: Investors continued to be jittery about a widening fallout from North Korea's nuclear ambitions and Bursa Malaysia was also not spared when it reopened for trading on Tuesday after an extended weekend break.
At 12.30pm, the KLCI was down 6.46 points or 0.36% to 1,766.70. Turnover increased to 1.31 billion shares valued at RM914.85mil. The broader market was weaker with decliners beating advancers nearly two to one or 433 losers to 223 gainers and 463 stocks unchanged.
Asian shares were on the defensive on worries about North Korea but expectations that Beijing will maintain support for its economy ahead of a key congress supported Chinese stocks and copper prices, according to Reuters.
MSCI's dollar-denominated index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.1% thanks to gains in Chinese shares, though many markets were in the red, the wire reported.
At Bursa, CIMB fell 32 sen to RM6.76 and erased 4.76 points from the KLCI on profit taking.
Maybank fell four sen to RM9.42 and wiped out nearly 0.7% while Public Bank and Hong Leong Bank were unchanged at RM20.60 and RM15.44 while RHB Bank shed two sen to RM5.03. AmBank rose one sen to RM4.29,
As for plantations, heavyweight Sime Darby lost three sen to RM8.97; also down three sen was IOI Corp to RM4.51 and KL Kepong two sen lower at RM24.52. However, PPB Group rose eight sen to RM16.76.
Among the telcos, Axiata gained nine sen to RM5.02 and added 1.33 points to the KLCI, Maxis and Telekom shed three sen each to RM5.75 and RM6.40 while Digi was two sen lower at RM4.82.
Among the heavyweights, Tenaga rose 10 sen to RM14.38and nudged up the KLCI by 0.93 of a point, Genbtiung Bhd added eight sen to RM9.79 but Genting Malaysia fell five senm to RM5.82.
In crude oil futures, the WTI Crude index rose 10 cents to US$47.39 while the Brent Crude fell 20 cents to US$52.14.
In the petroleum sector, Petronas Chemicals was up seven sen to RM7.23, Petronas Gas fell two sen to RM18.38 and Petronas Dagangan dropped 10 sen to RM24.30. However, refiners Petron added 34 sen to RM9.22 and Hengyuan 20 sen higher at RM7.72.
Sino Hua-An International continued its upward trend with a three sen gain to 18.5 sen. This was followed by China Stationery Ltd which gained two sen to six sen and and Anzo Holdings 0.5 sen to 10.5 sen.
Among the top losers, Ajinomoto Malaysia fell 94 sen to RM20.30, UMW fell 48 sen to RM5.60 and Time dotCom fell 43 sen to RM9.47.
Spot gold gained US$3.18 or 0.24% to US$1,337.05 a troy ounce as the safe haven asset continued to attract investor interest amid worries of more missile launches by North Korea.
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