KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI retraced earlier gains to hover near the 1,500 support as regional investors dialled back bets the US Federal Reserve will soon start cutting interest rates.

       At 12.30pm, the benchmark index was down 1.8 points to 1,500.11.

       The lower liners were also on the backfoot, with the overall market recording 567 decliners to 373 gainers.

       The trading volume was 2.94 billion shares valued at RM1.72bil.

       Leading the decline was PETRONAS Chemicals falling eight sen to RM6.85, QL Resources shedding five sen to RM5.85 and MISC dropping seven sen to RM7.33.

       YTL Power stepped back four sen to RM3.79 while Telekom Malaysia gained nine sne to RM5.89.

       Of actives, SCIB dove 23 sen to 96 sen, Minetec rose 0.5 sen to 18 sen and MRCB shed 1.5 sen to 52 sen.

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       In regional markets, Japan's Nikkei stepped back 0.6% to 35,676 while South Korea's Kospi fell 0.7% to 2,508.

       China's composite index was down 0.6% to 2,868 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng slumped 1.9% to 15,904.