KUALA LUMPUR: The domestic market gave in to selling pressure in the early session with 878 stocks falling into the red as investors took caution ahead of the Jackson Hole symposium taking place later today.
The benchmark FBM KLCI fell 4.86 points to 1,636.8, dragged lower by utility counters, but remained on track to ending the week at a multi-year high.
There were declines in nearly all the broader market sectors with energy and plantations being the only exceptions.
Total turnover was 2.3 billion shares valued at RM1.48bil.
Weighing on the FBM KLCI, YTL Power shed six sen to MR4.14, Tenaga Nasional fell 12 sen to RM13.74 and PETRONAS Dagangan slid 24 se nto RM20.10.
Top actives on the market included Notion VTec, diving 24 sen to RM1.13, Cape EMS dropping one sen to 39 sen and ACE Market debutant EPB rising 5.5 sen to 61.5 sen.
Meanwhile, Asian markets were mixed as investors looked ahead to a speech by Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell for confirmation that the US central bank will be cutting rates in September.
Japan's Nikkei rose 0.5% to 38,397 and China's composite index gained 0.28% to 2,856 while Singapore's Straits Times rose 0.15% to 3,378.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.41% to 17,569.
