KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI lost its earlier momentum and turned into the red as regional markets wobbled, even as traders held on to hope there would be a breakthough in the Middle East conflict.
Following news that peace talks between the US and Iran will continue past the original April 22 deadline, stock markets were relieved, but remained subdued given the ongoing uncertainty.
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLC was down 6.32 points to 1,705.11, slipping below the 50-day simple moving average that had been crossed earlier in the day.
Financial services stocks fell 0.72% while energy shares climbed 1.28%, as crude oil futures rose to US$98 a barrel.
The market took on a negative breadth of 560 declining issues compared to 448 advancing. Volume was 1.88 billion shares valued at RM1.35bil.
Top actives were Zetrix AI flat at 89.5 sen, NexG up two sen to 33 sen and Perdana Petroleum rising one sen to 17.5 sen.
Meanwhile, regional markets were mixed with the Nikkei up 0.17% to 59,451 and South Korea's Kospi down 0.1% to 6,383.
In China, the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.24% to 4,095 and the CSI 300 added 0.3% to 4,782. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.32% to 26,137.
