KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips fell at the midday break on Wednesday as the rebound in crude oil prices failed to lift the oil and gas counters while Petronas-linked stocks managaed to eke out marginal gains.

At 12.30pm, the KLCI was down 0.42 point or 0.02% to 1,762.92. Turnover was 668.66 million shares valued at RM541.46mil. There were 251 gainers, 318 losers and 486 counters unchanged.

The ringgit fell 0.06% to the US dollar at 4.2840. However, it edged up 0.01% to the pound stering at 5.5771 abd added 0.08% versus the Singapore dollar at 3.1422 and advanced 0.09% to the euro at 4.9856.

Asian stocks steadied on Wednesday and the dollar held firm as investors awaited the Federal Reserve's policy decision later in the day for more clues on its tightening plans, Reuters reported.

The wait-and-see mood was expected to prevail in the European session. The Fed will conclude its two-day meeting later on Wednesday, and is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged.

US light crude oil rose 49 cents to US$48.38 and Brent added 40 cents to US$50.60.

Among the oil and gas stocks, Petronas Gas rebounded from the earlier low of RM18.74, climbing four sen to RM18.92, Petronas Dagnagan added two sen to RTM23.86 and Petronas Chemical one sen higher at RM6.97. UMW Oil and Gas edged up 0.5 sen to 31.5 sen with 14.98 million shares done.

Consumer stocks were among the top losers, with BAT down 46 sen to RM44.18, Carlsberg lost 12 sen to RM14.94 and Heineken fell six sen to RM17.62. 

Semiconductor and tech-related counters were mixed with Vitrox up 25 sen to RM4.40 and Pentamaster gained 12 sen to RM4.12 and JF Tech rose 11 sen to RM2.08 but Globetronics fell six sen to RM6.11.

Among the banks, Public Bank rose six sen to RM20.48, RHB Bank rose one sen to RM5.06, CIMB and Maybank were flat at RM6.35 and RM9.62, Hong Leong Bank lost four sen to RM15.80, AmBank fell one sen to RM5.

Cement maker CMSB lost 12 sen to RM3.58.

Crude palm oil for third moth delivery fell RM25 to RM2,601 per tonne. IOI Corp Bhd said crude palm oil (CPO) prices could continue to trade at present levels at the RM2,500 to RM2,650 per tonne in the next two months.

Among the plantations, PPB Group rose two sen to RM16.80, KL Kepong was flat at RM24.72, Sime Darby shed one sen to RM9.54, IOI Corp lost four sen to RM4.44.

IWCity, which had seen wide swings in its share price over the Bandar Malaysia project, rose two sen to RM1.35 with 12.46 million shares traded. Ekovest added four sen to RM1.12.