KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 30): The FBM KLCI fell 3.54 points or 0.2% on late selling of stocks like Genting Bhd and SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd on investors' month-end portfolio rebalancing.

At 5pm, the KLCI closed at 1,678.06 points after reaching its intraday low at 1,675.73 points.

Genting shares fell 20 sen to close at RM7.80 to become the bourse's 10th-largest decliner. SapuraKencana dropped six sen to RM1.58 to become the fifth most-active stock.

Inter-Pacific Securities Sdn Bhd research head Pong Teng Siew told theedgemarkets.com that investors' portfolio adjustments were mostly done in the afternoon, resulting in the KLCI's steep fall.

"Today, a bit of sell-down due to month-end rebalancing. Most of the selling was done in the afternoon. But they haven't begun to sell in a big way," Pong said.

Bursa Malaysia saw a trading volume of two billion shares worth RM2.26 billion. There were 409 gainers versus 419 decliners.

Top gainer was Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd while the biggest decliner was British American Tobacco (M) Bhd.

M3 Technologies (Asia) Bhd and AirAsia X Bhd were among the most-actively traded counters.

Across Asian share markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.07% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.85%.

Reuters reported that Asian shares bounced modestly on Tuesday as doubts the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates next month restrained the dollar, while investors continued to count on more policy stimulus elsewhere in the world.