KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI pared losses as it entered the lunch break as profit-taking slowed amid an improved regional sentiment.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark index was down 3.69 points to 1,573.51 after retracing nearly seven points from a low of 1,566.84 earlier in the day.
The broader market registered 634 decliners compared to 222 gainers as investors remained wary of small caps.
Turnover was 1.89 billion valued at RM1.41bil.
Leading the market lower was YTL Power, which plunged 33 sen to RM3.73, a day after announcing an issue of bonus warrants
YTL Corp, which also revealed a bonus issue, dropped 20 sen to RM2.18.
Gamuda, meanwhile, shed eight sen to RM4.21 as investors worried over the US restrictions on AI chip exports impacting data centre prospects.
Of actives, Oriental Kopi lost 1.5 sen to 86 sen, CBH Engineering fell 0.5 sen to 36.5 sen and EA Holdings
was unchanged at one sen.
In key Asian markets, China's composite index was up 0.73% to 3,253.79 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 1.81% to 20,057.
Japan's Nikkei slid 0.5% higher to 39,977 while Singapore's Straits Times dipped 0.08% to 3,803.
