KUALA LUMPUR: The rebound on the FBM KLCI fizzled headed into the lunch break as investors took profit ahead of the US Federal Open Market Committee's policy decision later today.

       Inevstors are treading carefully amid expectations of a hawkish change in policy as the Fed prepares to cut back on stimulus measures.

       At 12.3pm, Malaysia's benchmark index was down 2.79 points to 1,478.13, sliding below a technical support of 1,480 pegged by some analysts.

       The bearish mood on the market was also compounded by escalating fears over the spread of the Omicron variant of the Covid virus, which has triggered a heightened state of alert in the UK.

       Financial counters on Bursa were mostly unchanged pending a possible announcement of US interest rate hikes, which could spark rate increases by other global central banks.

       Maybank, Public Bank and CIMB were all unchanged from their previous close, while Hong Leong Bank rose four sen to RM18.12.

       Telcos were down with Axiata shedding five sne to Rm3.65, Maxis losing five sen to RM4.28 and Digi dropping five sen to RM3.90.

       Sime Darby Pantatation was also five sen lower at RM3.66.

       On the broader market, there were 406 decliners to 291 gainers, which showed a widening of the negative breadth since this morning.

       Top actives were ATA IMS up six sen to 61 sen, BCM Alliance unchanged at 2.5 sen and Permaju unchanged at four sen.

       Meanwhile, Asian markets were little changed as investors stayed to the sidelines ahead of the FOMC announcement.

       Japan's Nikkei was flat while South Korea's Kospi was up 0.2%.

       In China, the benchmark index was up 0.1% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.2%.

       Australia's AX200 was down 0.6% minutes from the close.