KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI closed in the red amid some choppy trade as index heavyweights Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), Public Bank Bhd and Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) weighed.

       At 5pm, the market's key barometer lost 4.10 points or 0.26% to finish at 1,587.16. It has risen to an intraday high of 1,589.49.

       There were 558 gainers, 398 losers and 402 counters traded unchanged on the Bursa Malaysia. Traded volumes stood at 2.44 billion shares worth RM2.26bil.

       Dealers said the buying interest today was interspersed with profit-taking. They said the market will continue to be choppy and trade in a range.

       In today’s session, 12 of the KLCI-component stocks were traded lower while 13 counters advanced while five counters remained unchanged.

       Maybank contributed the most to the index decline. The bank fell 17 sen to RM8.85, dragging the index down by 3.0354 points.

       Public Bank lost six sen to RM4.63, pushing the index lower by 1.7507 points. Tenaga fell 17 sen to RM9.25, nudging the index 1.4632 points lower.

       Kuala Lumpur Kepong lost 32 sen to RM24.98, Digi fell six sen to RM4.01, Petronas Gas added 32 sen to RM16.96 and Petronas Dagangan gained 30 sen to RM20.92.

       On the broader market, Malaysian Pacific Industries surged RM2.22 to RM36.02, F&N rose RM1.16 to RM22.36 and Heineken added 76 sen to RM22.44.

       The decliners included Hap Seng Consolidated, PMB Technology and Complete Logistic.

       On the external front, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 4.28%.

       South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.77%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.89%, China’s Shanghai Composite added 0.08% and Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.59%.