KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI ended midday flat as investors took out the gains made earlier in the day amid the continued bearish sentiment.
At 12.30pm, the key index was down 0.54 point to 1,430.56. There were 275 gainers compared with 447 decliners on the market.
Trading volume was 1.41 billion shares valued at RM715.55mil.
Financial stocks turned sour as Maybank dropped six sen to RM8.54, CIMB shed three sen to RM4.87 and Hong Leong Bank lost 10 sen to RM20.50.
Petronas Chemicals slid 12 sen to RM9.18, Press Metal
lost four sen to RM4.65 and MISC declined five sen to RM7.01.
Some gainers included Nestle up 60 sen to RM133.10, Kuala Lumpur Kepong rising 36 sen to RM22.50, Petronas Dagangan jumping 34 sen to RM20.84 and Sime Darby Plantation adding 17 sen to RM4.21.
Topping the actives list was YX Precious Metals, which was unchanged at 28 sen with 129.95 million shares exchanging hands.
Rounding out the top three actives was Yong Tai unchanged at nine sen and Hibiscus Petroleum dropping 4.5 sen to 94.5 sen.
China's markets moved higher amid a recovery of confidence as Citigroup upgraded its forecast on improved earnings in the second half of the year.
China's composite index rose 0.6% while Hong Kong's Hang seng was up 1%
Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei fell 0.2% and South Korea's Kospi dove 1.4% on downbeat sentiment as investors considered the possibility of a recession in the US.
