KUALA LUMPUR: The local bourse pulled back in early trade following the strong performance in the previous week.
Asian markets came out of the Christmas weekend trading mixed, with Chinese stocks lagging behind even as its central bank lifted its official yuan midpoint to the highest level in 3.5 months at 6.5416 per dollar.
At 9.15am, the FBM KLCI was down 2.85 points to 1,757.39 points. TUrnover was 150.69 million shares with a value of RM54.87mil. There were 153 gainers to 120 decliners and 219 counters unchanged.
In early trade, Petronas Chemicals moved higher by seven sen to RM7.67 while Hong Leong Bank pushed forward 18 sen to RM16.82. Ambank gained six sen to RM4.39.
Decliners included Genting, which lost eight sen to RM9.02 and Genting Malaysia, which slipped seven sen to RM5.52.
Telekom Malaysia dropped 32 sen to RM6.18.
On the wider market, Kim Loong Resources was in the spotlight following an analyst upgrade to earnings. The counter moved up 33 sen to RM4.48.
"Overall, we favour KLRB given its prudent management, judging from the consistent earnings performance posted by the group for the past few years as well as its generosity of management in rewarding shareholders," said JF Apex Securities.
Other notable gainers included Allianz, which rose 34 sen to RM13.94, and Globetronic, which gained five sen to RM6.80.
Decliners included SIG Gases, which dropped five sen to RM1.10; Magnitech, which fell six sen to RM5.72; and Vitrox, which shaved off 11 sen to RM6.31.
In commodities, US light crude was trading five cents higher to US$58.52 a barrel while Brent crude rose two cents to US$65.27 a barrel.
