KUALA LUMPUR: The run-up in the early session on Thursday, March 11 lost steam as investors locked in gains on heavyweight Sime Darby and Genting Bhd, sending the key index into the red despite the stronger-than-expected industrial output data in January.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI fell 4.49 points to 1,323,73. Turnover was 426.9 million shares valued at RM552.17 million. There were 224 gainers, 387 losers and 266 stocks unchanged.

Key regional markets were mostly in the red on profit taking, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index down 0.35% to 21,134.22, Shanghai's Composite Index fell 0.64% to 3,029.39 but Japan's Nikkei 225 bucked the trend, rising 0.51% to 10,617.47.

Crude palm oil futures fell RM24 to RM2,646, light crude oil lost 52 cents to US$81.57 but US spot gold rose 24 cents to US$1,108.65.

Malaysia's industrial production index in January surged 12.7% from a year ago, and advanced 2.9% on-month.  The increase in January was due to the increases in the largest component of the IPI, which was manufacturing (16.4%), mining (4.1%) and electricity (19.8%).

Tanjong lost 10 sen to RM17.84, Sime Darby, Genting Bhd and Maxis fell six sen each to RM8.76, RM6.75 and RM5.36 while Genting Malaysia shed three sen to RM2.79. Among the banks, Hong Leong Bank gave up nine sen to RM8.71 and Maybank one sen lower at RM7.47.

CIMB shed two sen to RM14.06 as investors took gains after the shares rose to an early morning high of RM14.32.
Putrajaya Perdana fell the most, down 25 sen to RM3.85 but with only 1,000 shares done. KKB Engineering lost 22 sen to RM5.76 as investors viewed the shares had run up too much.

Among glove makers, Kossan lost 24 sen to RM7.36, Supermax 21 sen to Rm5.84 and Hartalega 18 sen to RM7.50.
Berjaya Corp-LC was the most active with 18 million shares done, down one sen to 94.5 sen.

Apex Healthcare rallied 22 sen to a 10-year high of RM2.70. PPB added 10 sen to RM17.40, while DiGi gained two sen to RM22.48.