KUALA LUMPUR: The rally on Bursa Malaysia fizzled as it approached midday, with investors taking profit ahead of the start of the US Federal Reserve’s policy meeting.
The FBM KLCI retraced lower, entering the lunch break 3.2 points in the red at an intra-morning low of 1,579.46 as investors took a breather following two sessions of gains.
The index was trading in positive territory for much of the early session, hitting a high of 1,589.06 at one point.
There was also selling among the lower liners, with 536 stocks falling as compared to 411 gaining and 462 unchanged.
Turnover was 2.42 billion shares valued at RM1.65bil.
The US central bank is scheduled to commence its Federal Open market Committee meeting tonight, and will announce a decision on monetary policy at its conclusion on Wednesday night.
CME FedWatch Tool shows markets have priced in a 57.8% chance there will be a rate cut in September, reflecting the more subdued expectations of investors towards US easing following a series of hot inflation data.
On the back of a red-hot rally, YTL Corp descended 13 sen to RM3.07 while YTL Power lost 20 sen to RM4.59 as investors cashed in on some of the recent gains.
Kuala Lumpur Kepong slid eight sen to RM23.12 while Hong Leong Bank dropped eight sen to RM19.30 and PETRONAS Chemicals slipped four sen to RM6.85.
Top actives of the day were Classita up 0.5 sen to 4.5 sen, MYEG gaining two sen to 93 sen and Iconic rising 2.5 sen to 10.5 sen.