KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI turned negative at mid-morning as investors remained cautious over Bank Negara's OPR decision later today and cashed in profits ahead of the Deepavali holiday.

       At 12.30pm, the key index erased its earlier gains to drop 4.67 points to 1,532.96 as plantations and telcos led declines.

       Sime Darby Plantation was down 11 sen to RM4.14 while IOI Corp dropped three sen to RM3.90.

       Maxis shed seven sen to RM4.60, Axiata dropped two sen to RM3.83 and Digi slid two sen to RM4.23.

       Banks were mixed ahead of Bank Negara's OPR announcement with Maybank up three sen to RM8.02, Public Bank flat at RM4.04, CIMB down two sen to RM5.07 and Hong Leong Bank up eight sen to RM18.

       On the broader market, market breadth was overwhelmingly negative with 467 decliners against 193 gainers.

       Top actives were DNeX down four sen to 78.5 sen, AirAsia X slipping 1.5 sen to four sen and NWP dropping 0.5 sen to 23.5 sen.

       In Asian markets, equities prices retreated from record highs as investors prepared for the US Federal Reserve winding down pandemic-era monetary stimulus even as they speculated over whether there will be interest rate hikes.

       Japan's Nikkei was down 0.4% and South Korea's Kospi fell 1.4%.

       China's main index slid 0.4% while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng was down 1%.

       Australia's ASX200 rose 0.8%.