KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI continued to struggle at the 1,500-point level after closing slightly above the resistance in the previous session.

       Following political developments that continued to weigh on market sentiment, the market was seen retreating in early trade only to erase most of the losses by midday.

       At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was down 2.53 points to 1,501.91, reclaiming some lost ground after having dipped to as low as 1,497.91 earlier in the day.

       There was some mild profit-taking on the broader market following the two days of advance.

       Consumer players lagged noticeably after the recent optimism. Nestle dropped 40 sent o RM132.80, Heineken Malaysia fell 34 sen to RM22.10, Dutch Lady slid 30 sen to RM32.70 and Carlsberg lost 14 sen to RM21.50.

       On the blue-chip FBM KLCIPress Metal saw the steepest decline, losing nine sen to RM4.91. Banks meanwhile also inched lower, led by Maybank down two sen to RM8.01, Public bank down two sen to RM3.92 and Hong Leong Bank sliding four sen to RM18.20.

       Of actives, DNeX was unchanged at 81.5 sen, Serba Dinamik rose 1.5 sen to 41.5 sen and Daya was flat at 1.5 sen.

       Despite moderate US inflation data, the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus continued to dampen sentiment in Asian markets.

       Japan's Nikkei was unchanged but South Korea's Kospi slid 0.1%. China's main index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng were both down 0.1%. Australia's ASX200 was unchanged.