KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI pared early losses but still markedly lower on Tuesday, amid cautious market sentiment.

       At 5pm, the 30-stock index closed down 14.53 points, or 0.91% to 1,583.42 after moving between an intraday high of 1,598.21 and a low of 1,579.27.

       The broader market sagged, with decliners now overtaking advancers 550 to 358 while 426 counters were unchanged.

       About 2.61 billion shares, valued at RM1.97bil, changed hands.

       In terms of fund flows, foreigners continued to acquire equities on Bursa Malaysia with total purchases valued at RM121mil on Monday.

       Local institutions offloaded equities worth RM138mil while retailers acquired RM18mil worth of equities.

       The KLCI-component stocks were overwhelmingly negative, with 26 losers and three gainers while one closed unchanged.

       Nestle lost RM1 to RM135, Petronas Dagangan shed 66 sen to RM20.70, Hong Leong Financial Group fell 34 sen to RM19.50 and Petronas Chemicals eased 20 sen to RM9.58.

       Press Metal rose 11 sen to RM6.20, Petronas Gas added two sen to RM16.82 and IOI Corp climbed one sen to RM4.12.

       On the broader market, MPI tumbled RM1.08 to RM36.40, F&N lost 44 sen to RM20.86 and Yinson eased 36 sen to RM4.49.

       Panasonic Manufacturing gained 38 sen to RM28.40, Heineken rose 30 sen to RM22.50, KESM added 28 sen to RM8.78 and Dutch Lady advanced 20 sen to RM32.40.

       Meanwhile, the ringgit was quoted at 4.2172, down 0.02% against the US dollar.

       US light crude oil advanced US$1.07 to US$107.03 and Brent lost US$1.43 to US$113.91 per barrel.

       On the external front, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.1% to close at 28,252.42, while South Korea’s Kospi added 0.42% to 2,741.07.

       Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 1.12% to 21,927.63.

       China’s Shanghai Composite index was down 0.33% at 3,203.94 while CSI300 index was down 0.35% to 4,134.14.