KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI saw profit-taking accelerate on Tuesday with the index moving back below the 1,750 support level.
Amid analyst forecasts that the index was making a positive break as it approached the year-end, the negative morning session result served to disappoint.
The local market was also trading at adds with most regional markets, which rose higher on expectations of widely expected US corporate tax cuts, which would boost Wall Street earnings.
At 12.30pm, the local benchmark index was down 11.45 points to 1,740.19 points. TUrnover was 1.7 billion shares with a value of RM1.2bil. There were 391 decliners to 214 advancers with 533 counters unchanged.
Genting led the declines, falling 17 sen to RM8.91. Public Bank also weighed, dropping 12 sen to RM20.58.
Among other banking stocks, Maybank dipped one sen to RM9.49, CIMB slipped one sen to RM6.28, RHB Bank fell seven sen to RM5.01 and Hong Leong Bank dropped four sen to RM16.90.
Plantations counters were mixed, with Sime Darby Plantations slipping one sen to RM5.29, IOI dropping six sen to RM4.35 but KL Kepong adding two sen to RM24.54.
In telcos, Digi rose two sen to RM4.82 but Maxis fell three sen to RM5.91.
Tenaga Nasional and Astro
both went ex-dividend today. The energy major dipped two sen to RM14.92 while the satellite broadcaster fell six sen to RM2.51.
On the wider market, Hartalega was a top gainer, rising 76 sen to RM10.80. Refiner Hengyuan also continued its uptrend, gaining 58 sen to RM14.46.
In other glovemakers, Top Glove rose 20 sen to RM7.14 while Kossan gained 14 sen to RM8.10.
Meanwhile, Perdana Petroleum's share price plunged 35% or 23.5 sen to 42.5 sen, for a second day of losses since the counter resumed trading yesterday.
The counter had been suspended on Sept 30 after its public shareholding spread was reduced to less than 10% following a manadatory general offer by Dayang Enterprise Holdings.
Other laggards included Petron Malaysia, falling 22 sen to RM13.20 and Time dotCom, shaving 17 sen to RM9.03.
Oil prices continued to rise as the shutdown to the UK North Sea pipeline continued to restrain supply, while rising output in the US mitigated gains.
US light crude added 13 cents to US$57.29 a barrel while Brent crude gained nine cents to US$63.80 a barrel.
In currencies, the ringgit rose against a basket of currencies. It strengthened 0.17% against the greenback to 4.0747, 0.04% against the pound sterling at 5.4521 and 0.18% against the Singapore dollar at 3.0236.
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