KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI remained submerged at midday as local blue chips dipped to their lowest level in a week.
Traders are cashing out of the recent rally on Bursa Malaysia as the attention turns towards AI-related shares, which sent regional markets on a rally.
The FBM KLCI was down 4.88 points to 1,715.49 with profit-taking seen taking place across a broad array of shares, even as its regional peers experienced a fresh revival of the tech rally.
Skewed heavily to the fortunes of the country's semiconductor sector, South Korea's Kospi surged 4.61% to 7,058, tracking the sharp rebound in US tech stocks overnight and ahead of the release of earnings by key tech stocks.
Japan's Nikkei was up 1.11% to 66,697.
Back home, Malaysia's stock market was broadly lower with 503 declining issues compared to 376 advancing. Trading volume was 1.99 billion shares valued at RM1.13bil.
The plantations sector dropped 0.87%, followed by healthcare, shedding 0.71%.
Property shares were down 0.49%, financial services was down 0.16% and REITs slid 0.13%.
The negative sentiment seemed to extend even to Malaysia's tech sector, which was down 0.4%. Semiconductor plays on the selling list included Pentamaster down 16 sen to RM5.03 and UWC shedding 16 sen to RM6.11
Among the lagging blue chips, Kuala Lumpur Kepong fell 42 sen to RM20.72, Tenaga dropped 20 sen to RM14.36 and PETRONAS Dagangan dipped 14 sen to RM19.36.
