KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI ended up weaker at midday amid other falling Asian markets taking their cue from last night's weak Wall Street close.
Japan's Nikkei stood out among key indices, rising a fifth of a percent to 21,742.98 at its midday break on strong earnings reports.
At 12.30pm, the KLCI was 2.75 points lower at 1,736.30 points. Turnover was 1.36 billion shares with a value of RM900.62mil. Decliners outpaced advancers 282 to 267 with 519 counters unchanged.
IHH Healthcare weighed in morning trade, dipping 14 sen to RM5.65 and shaving 1.8925 points off the index.
Meanwhile, Sime Darby fell three sen to RM9.05 while Tenaga Nasional dropped four sen to RM14.30.
Among banking counters, CIMB slipped one sen to RM6.09 and RHB dropped six sen to RM5.01
Hong Leong Bank gained four sen to RM16.12 while Maybank was unchanged at RM9.24 and Public Bank remained at RM20.46.
In telcos, Maxis rose two sen to RM5.80 while Digi added two sen to RM4.89. Axiata also rose three sen to RM5.27 while Telekom Malaysia was unchanged at RM6.12.
In the plantations sector, KL Kepong saw some profit-taking, dipping four sen to RM24.46 while IOI was unchanged at RM4.46. PPB dropped 24 sen to RM16.44.
Among other laggards, British American Tobacco
declined a further 46 sen to RM40.74, MISC dropped four sen to RM7.08 and Genting fell five sen to RM930. Genting Malaysia rose three sen to RM5.16.
On the wider market, Batu Kawan dropped 20 sen to RM19.80, Tasek slipped 10 sen to RM12.70 and Petron Malaysia slipped 10 sen to RM11.54
Edaran was leading gainer, rising 24 sen to 76.5 sen. Chemical Company of Malaysia added 10 sen to RM1.48 and Genting Plantations put on eight sen to RM10.68
Oil prices softened on Thursday as data showed a rise in US crude inventories. US light crude fell eight cents to US$52.10 a barrel while Brent crude dropped eight cents to US$58.36 a barrel.
In forex, the ringgit rose 0.09% against the greenback to 4.2315 as the US dollar took a breather from a recent rally. The local currency was 0.59% weaker against the pound sterling at 5.6134 and 0./15% weaker against the Singapore dollar at 3.1110.
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