KUALA LUMPUR: Genting Malaysia single-handedly shaved over eight points off the local benchmark index in morning trade following a sharp decline.
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was down 7.5 points to 1,706.37. Trading volume was 1.38 billion shares valued at RM1.96bil. Decliners outnumbered advancers 547 to 236 with 239 counters unchanged.
The gaming concern hit limit down when it dropped as much as RM1.36 or 30% in the morning session to RM3.18 before partially retracing losses. Entering midday break, the stock stood at RM3.65.
Holding company Genting suffered a milder 27 sen or 3.75% drop to RM6.93.
On the other end of the spectrum, Petronas Chemicals was seen moving higher with a 19 sen gain to RM9.67.
Other top gainers on the KLCI included MISC rising 16 sen to RM6.86, TNB adding 10 sen to RM14.80 and Petronas Gas climbing 16 sen to RM18.60.
Meanwhile, Prestariang was a leading gainer on the market with an eight sen advance to 79 sen. This marks a fifth straight day of gains for the stock, which has risen about 74% since Oct 29.
Top laggards included MAHB shaving 65 sen to RM7.60, MPI losing 42 sen to RM10.58 and KESM dropping 36 sen to RM11.98.
Oil prices came under pressure on Monday following US President Donald Trump's waiver on eight nations to continue importing crude from Iran after the sanctions take place.
WTI crude dropped 45 cents to US$62.67 a barrel while Brent crude fell 42 cents to US$72.41 a barrel.
In currencies, the ringgit fell 0.3% against the US dollar to 4.1705. It rose 0.16% against the pound sterling to 5.4159 and the Singapore dollar to 3.0303.
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