Stock market data showed foreign funds were net sellers at RM195.6mil while local institutions were net  buyers at RM177.91mil and local retail investors at RM17.95mil.

Emerging market equities traded near three-week lows on Wednesday, pounded by the rising dollar and higher US yields while key Asian markets were mostly lower except China and Singapore, according to Reuters.

Chinese stocks held steady on Wednesday, bolstered by strong gains in resources shares after upbeat industrial profit data and a robust earnings forecast by a major steelmaker helped to ease worries about slowing economic growth, according to the wire report.

The ringgit slipped against the US dollar but rose against the pound sterling, Singapore dollar and the euro. It fell 0.31% against the US dollar to 4.2197 but climbed 0.4% to the pound sterling at 5.6496 and gained 0.18% to the euro at 3.1030 and advanced 0.39% to the euro at 4.9514.

Genting fell 17 sen to RM9.51 and erased 1.07 points from the KLCI, Tenaga four sen lower at RM14.36 while Genting Malaysia was unchanged at RM5.42.

Among the banks, CIMB fell four sen to RM6.30, HLFG eight sen to RM16.82, RHB Bank two sen lower at RM5.12 and AmBank shed one sen to RM4.39 but Maybank and Public Bank rose two sen each to RM9.82 and RM20.58.

Crude palm oil for third month delivery was flat at RM2,749 per tonne. KL Kepong fell eight sen to RM24.48, Sime Darby three sen to RM9.01, IOI Corp two sen to RM4.51 but PPB Group gained 16 sen to RM16.96.

US light crude oil rose three cents to US$51.91 but Brent lost 20 sen to US$58.24. Petron lost 10 sen to RM10.22 and Petronas Cheicals three sen to RM7.29 but Petronas Gas gained two sen to RM18.12 and Petronas Dagangan four sen to RM24.50.

As for telcos, Digi and Telekom advanced six sen to RM4.91 and RM6.41, Axiata added four sen to RM5.18, Maxis was flat at RM5.80.

Superlon fell 44 sen to RM2.32, the lowest since mid-July after it posted a weaker set of resuts.

Burn-in tester KESM fell 28 sen to RM15.80 and Scientex 13 sen to RM8.75 but JHM added 18 sen to RM3.05.

Hartalega added 25 sen to RM6.80, Hai-O 17 sen to RM5.25 and construction company Pintaras 16 sen to RM4. Masteel was also one of the better performers, up 15 sen to RM1.35.

Among the key regional markets,

Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.31% to 20,267.05;

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.47% to 27,642.43;

CSI 300 inche dup 0.01% to 3,821.20;

Shanghai’s Composite Index added 0.05% to 3,345.27;

Hang Seng China Enterprise gained 0.61% to 11,035.78;

Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.68% to 10,326.68;

South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.07% to 2,372.57; and

Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 0.75% to 3,236.15.

Spot gold fell US$4.59 to US$1,289.39.