KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI surrendered early gains to close in the red at midday as investors’ sentiment stayed cautious.

       At 12.30 pm, the benchmark index fell 3.97 points, or 0.26% to 1,523.78. It opened 1.06 points higher at 1,528.81 this morning.

       Sellers led buyers by 552 to 264, while 379 counters traded unchanged. Turnover on Bursa was 1.51 billion shares valued at RM969.89mil.

       Dealers said investors remained cautious following the weak performance on Wall Street overnight.

       The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.89% to 34,715.39, the S&P 500 1.10% to 4,482.73 and Nasdaq dropped 1.3% to 14,154.02.

       Tracking the weakness from Wall Street overnight, Malacca Securities believed investors may still be jittery in the anticipation of an interest rate hike environment as well as the still-spiking Covid-19 cases.

       “Hence, the negative sentiment may spillover to stocks on the local front and profit-taking activities on the technology counters may emerge.

       “On the commodity markets, the CPO price continued to trend above its all-time high, while the crude oil price hovered above the US$88 per barrel mark,” Malacca Securities said.

       Among the KLCI component stocks, Hong Leong Bank fell 16 sen to RM19.18, Dialog lost 11 sen to RM2.59, Inari declined 10 sen to RM3.19 and Petronas Dagangan eased 10 sen to RM19.04.

       Petronas Gas added 14 sen to RM16.96, CIMB rose four sen to RM5.29, Hartalega climbed three sen to RM5.72 and IOI Corp gained two sen to RM3.89.

       On the broader market, MPI tumbled RM2.08 to RM37.94, BAT fell 40 sen to RM12.70 and Sam Engineering lost 34 sen to RM21.22.