KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI slid slightly into the red as investors stayed to the sidelines as they awaited the decisions of major central bank meetings later this week.
At 12.30pm, the key index was down 1.46 points to 1,623.1 while the broader marker was underpinned by 614 laggards compared to 362 gainers.
The share turnover was 2.42 billion changing hands for RM1.36bil.
Of the nine lagging sectors, healthcare and utilities saw the steepest declines, followed by financial services.
On the blue-chip index, Nestle dropped RM1.50 to RM111, while YTL Power shed six sen to RM4.69 and SD Guthrie fell seven sen to RM4.45.
Maybank slid six sen to RM10.14 while Telekom Malaysia dropped three sen to RM7.
Glove stocks also saw some pullback with Hartalega
shedding 12 sen to RM3.22, Top Glove dropping five sen to RM1.11 and Kossan falling 10 sen to RM2.26
Meanwhile, top actives on the market were Velocity unchanged at eight sen, OCR flat at 8.5 sen and Velesto unchanged at 22.5 sen.
In regional markets, investors cashed out ahead of potential rate hike by the Bank of Japan tomorrow. Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei index dropped 0.61% to 38,232 while China's composite index slipped 0.52% to 2,876.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 1.16% to 17,038 while Singapore's Straits Times Index rose 0.12% to 3,448.
