KUALA LUMPUR: Last-minute selling erased earlier gains and dragged the FBM KLCI lower for a third consecutive session on Wednesday, despite the benchmark spending most of the day in positive territory.
The market barometer closed down 7.23 points, or 0.43%, at 1,656.83. The index traded within a 14.16-point range between its intraday high of 1,670.99 and low of 1,656.83.
Gainers outpaced losers 526 to 449, while 561 counters were unchanged. About 2.52 billion shares, valued at RM2.26bil, changed hands.
Dealers said the late pullback was largely driven by profit-taking in index-linked stocks after the benchmark traded higher for most of the session.
They expect sentiment to remain cautious in the near term amid mixed regional markets and lingering external uncertainties.
Among the gainers, Allianz-PA jumped 60 sen to RM22.40, Critical Holdings rose 32 sen to RM1.41, YTL Power added 29 sen to RM4.47 and UMS Integration climbed 28 sen to RM8.49.
In contrast, Nestle slid RM1.70 to RM91.76, Malaysian Pacific Industries
lost 66 sen to RM49, Kuala Lumpur Kepong fell 18 sen to RM20.98 and Allianz declined 14 sen to RM20.94.
Meanwhile, Skygate Solutions rose 1.5 sen to 81.5 sen after Bursa Malaysia issued the telecommunications and technology firm with an unusual market activity (UMA) query over its recent share price surge.
In terms of fund flows, foreign investors and retailers were net sellers on Tuesday, offloading RM183mil and RM16mil worth of equities, respectively, while local institutions were net buyers with RM199mil.
Elsewhere in the region, markets finished mixed. Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.59% to 70,474.96, while South Korea's Kospi eased 2.04% to 8,303.41.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 0.63% to 22,881.02, while Taiwan's TAIEX gained 1.94% to 47,018.99.
China's blue-chip CSI300 fell 0.41% to 4,958.98, while the Shanghai Composite bucked the regional trend, rising 0.44% to 4,112.45.
