13/07/2012 (Bernama) - Heavy selling in the plantation counters is continuing with investors taking profit after recent gains.

An analyst said the current low crude palm oil prices also encouraged players to reduce their holdings in the morning trading, resulting in more selling pressure in the key index to end the morning session today at 1,627.88, after losing 1.57 points.

Among top losers, TDM slipped 11 sen to RM4.64, Felda Global Ventures fell 10 sen to RM5.40, Kulim lost nine sen to RM5.22 and Chin Teck Plantations eased six sen to RM8.86.

Nevertheless, key counters like Kuala Lumpur Kepong remained steady with share prices gaining two sen to RM24.16 and Sime Darby was flat at RM9.95.

Recently, data showed Malaysia's palm oil stocks fell 4.85 per cent to 1.70 million tonnes in June from 1.79 million tonnes in May, while CPO stocks dwindled 19.73 per cent to 785,740 tonnes in June.