KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI ended the early session nearly flat after it retraced its earlier losses on some bargain-hunting activity, although the broader market was markedly negative with more than half the counters in the red.
At 12.30pm, the key index was down just 0.5 points to 1,589.87 with the blue-chip index holding firm despite the sell-down in lower liners.
The share turnover in the first half of trading was 3.05 billion changing hands for RM1.72bil.
The decliners on the market outnumbered the gainers three to one - 819 to 273 - while 419 were unchanged.
Among the blue chips, YTL Corp was down seven sen to RM3.51 and YTL Power shed nine sne to RM4.99.
Nestle dropped RM1.20 to RM122.80 while Sunway, making its debut on the FBM KLCI, fell five sen to RM3.70.
Banks were also hit as CIMB dropped five sen to RM6.74, Hong Leong Bank fell six sen to RM19.21, and RHB slid one sen to RM5.51.
On the broader market, Dutch Lady
slipped 64 sen to RM35.96, F&N lst 30 sen to RM31.70 while technology stocks Greatec shed 17 sen to RM5 and Vitrox skidded 16 sen to RM4.19.
Of actives, Ingenieur rose 0.5 sen to seven sen, MYEG lost one sen to RM1 and Techbase climbed 3.5 sen to 24 sen.
In regional markets, major stock indices were mostly lower as investors braced for Chinese economic data and a US price report that will offer insight on the inflation environment in the world's largest economy.
China's composinte index slipped 0.7% to 2,977, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 1.02% to 17,844 and Singapore's Straits Times index was flat at 3,305.
Japan's Nikkei rose 0.67% to 38,856.
