KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI dipped in the early session as investors cashed in on gains ahead of the Jackson Hole symposium, which will provide more clues as to what US policymakers will decide at their September meeting.
At 12.30pm, the key index was down 3.22 points to 1,639.55 after moving with an 11-point trading range of 1,635.55 and 1.646.38.
Meanwhile the broader market kept a nearly even spread of 472 decliners and 437 gainers. The share turnover was 1.98 billion changing hands for RM1.46bil.
Heavyweights dragging on the benchmark index included Tenaga Nasional down 14 sen to RM13.86, QL Resources falling seven sen to RM6.60 and SD Guthrie shedding five sen to RM4.56.
PETRONAS Dagangan was one of the day's most improved stocks, rising RM1.10 to RM19.72, after announcing its quarterly results yesterday.
CIMB was an outlier among its sector peers, rising seven sen to RM4.37, while Public Bank dropped seven sen to RM4.51, Maybank shed two sen to RM10.58 and RHB slid three sen to RM5.89.
Meanwhile, top gainers on the market included LPI gaining 30 sen to RM13.18, Lysaght rising 26 sen to RM2.86 and F&B adding 26 sen to RM29.52.
Top actives were Cape EMS rising three sen to 43 sen, MYEG up three sen to 93.5 sen and Oversea Enterprise unchanged at 5.5 sen.
In regional markets, the rally took a pause after prices had largely return to levels seen prior to the market rout in early August.
Japan's Nikkei slipped 0.33% to 37,935, and China's composite index fell 0.39% to 2,855.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.95% to 17,345 and Singapore's Straits Times slid 0.32% to 3,359.
