KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI erased early gains to end slightly lower on Tuesday ahead of a US Federal Reserve meeting later today is expected to reinforce a dovish stance on policy rates.
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI slid 1.44 points to 1,689.5. Trading volume was 1.86 billion shares valued at RM896.04mil. There were 549 decliners versus 204 advancers and 343 counters unchanged.
On the KLCI, Maxis fell 10 sen to RM5.37 to led the decline, followed by IOI shedding seven sen to RM4.52 and Genting dropping seven sen to RM6.96.
Tenaga Nasional was the biggest gainer, adding 14 sen to RM13.20.
Most actively traded counters in the morning were Sapura Energy
losing 1.5 sen to 34.5 sen, Metronic gaining two sen to 9.5 sen and Dayang falling 19 sen to RM1.43.
Regional markets also mostly moved slightly in anticipation of the Fed decision. The Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.4% while the CSI300 fell 0.6%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipped 0.2% while Japan's Nikkei held mostly flat.
In oil markets, prices were little changed from their previous session close. US crude slipped three cents to US$59.06 a barrel and Brent crude rose nine cents to US$67.63 a barrel.
The ringgit meanwhile was unchanged against the US dollar at 4.0759, 0.1% weaker against the pound sterling at 5.4085 and 0.1% lower agains the Singapore dollar at 3.0178.
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