KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI dipped into the red late into the morning session, along with other Asian markets that moved lower in choppy trade.
At 12.30pm, the local benchmark index was down 1.52 points to 1,735.97 points. Turnover was 1.44 billion shares with a value of RM911.97mil There were 359 decliners to 235 advancers, with 551 counters unchanged.
On Bursa Malaysia, news that there will be three new additions to the MSCI Malaysia Index brought the counters onto investors' radar screens.
SP Setia surged 20 sen to RM3.45 while Nestle rose RM4.20 to RM92.84. The third equity, Press Metal
Aluminum, had seen advances prior to the announcement and fell 10 sen to RM4.81.
Maybank rose seven sen to RM9.23, lifting the index by 1.2375 points, while Tenaga Nasional rose six sen to RM14.88.
Top decliners on the KLCI included Genting, which fell 18 sen to RM9.17 and Petronas Gas, which dropped 30 sen to RM17.14.
AmInvestment Research had maintained its Sell call on Petronas Gas, given the lack of clarity surrounding the Energy Commission's plan to implement incentive-based regulation initiatives on the group's gas transport tariff.
"Even though the effective date of the TPA will be by 16 January next year, management is not able to provide any clarity on the timeline of the EC's decision or the tariff structure," it said in its research note on Tuesday.
Petronas Dagangan, however, rose 30 sen to RM24 on strong earnings results that beat analysts' expectations. The group had declared a dividend per share of 20 sen for its third quarter, which was higher than the previous year quarter's 14 sen.
Meanwhile, the MSCI also included four additional stocks in its MSCI Global Small Cap Index for Malaysia. EcoWorld dipped one sen to RM1.52, George Kent rose seven sen to RM3.26, Hengyuan Refining gained 12 sen to RM10.72 and Petron Malaysia was unchanged at RM12.70.
In commodities, oil prices dipped on concerns that rising US oil output would undo Opec efforts to tighten global supply.
US light oil was 14 cents lower at US$56.62 a barrel while Brent crude dropped 20 cents to US$62.96 a barrel.
Meanwhile, the ringgit moved 0.04% stronger against the US dollar at 4.1900. It weakened 0.36% against the pound sterling at 5.4962 and 0.03% against the Singapore dollar at 3.0785.
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