KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 24): The FBM KLCI slipped at mid-morning and dipped 0.19% on some mild profit taking.

At 10am, the FBM KLCI fell 3.54 points to 1,807.10.

Losers led gainers by 286 to 175, while 261 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 419.36 million shares valued at RM238.49 million.

The decliners included Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd, New Hoong Fatt Holdings Bhd, Nestle (M) Bhd, Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd, MSM Malaysia Holdings Bhd, Lingkaran Trans Kota Holdings Bhd, Hong Leong Bank Bhd and Padini Holdings Bhd.

The actives included Sapura Energy Bhd, Priceworth International Bhd, Pinehill Paific Bhd, Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd, Nova MSC Bhd, Excel E-Force Bhd, Borneo Oil Bhd and My EG Services Bhd.

The gainers included Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, United Plantations Bhd, Ajinomoto (M) Bhd, Heineken Malaysia Bhd, Petronas Gas Bhd, ViTrox Corp Bhd, Pinehill Pacific and YSP Southeast Asia Holdings Bhd.

The safe haven yen gained on Monday in holiday-thinned trading as China cancelled upcoming tariff talks with the United States, ratcheting up tensions while oil prices jumped after top producers including Russia ruled out boosting crude output, according to Reuters.

Most of the action was in currencies as financial markets in Japan, China and South Korea were closed for a holiday, it said.

Hong Leong IB Research in a traders’ brief said in the US, the softer-than-expected trade tariffs that are imposed by the Trump administration could calm the market sentiment over the near term.

“However, traders could be mildly cautious ahead of the FOMC meeting that will be held on 25-26 Sep, whereby the Bloomberg consensus is having a 97.9% of having a rate hike. Hence, we anticipate that the Dow could be having limited upside near the psychological level of 27,000.

“On our local bourse, we may expect short term positive bias sentiment on the back of the decent foreign inflows last Friday, which stood at RM307.8 million.

“Also, traders could be looking out for opportunities within the O&G on the back of firmer crude oil prices and export-oriented stocks due to the USD/RM is still ranging between the RM4.10-4.15 level,” it said.