KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI closed slightly in the red in holiday-shortened trading on Friday to extend its losing streak to five days.

At 12.30pm, the index was down 1.63 points to 1,572.81. Trading volume was 1.58 billion shares valued at RM1.27bil. There were 378 decliners, 337 gainers and 383 counters unchanged.

Glove makers were once more the target of buying as the death toll from China's coronavirus mounted even as the Chinese government locked down on 10 cities.

The sector topped the list of gainers on the KLCI with Top Glove rising 18 sen to RM5.54 and Hartalega rising 14 sen to RM6.03.

Supermax stayed on the Bursa Malaysia most actively traded last, jumping nine sen to RM1.61.

Bank stocks were also seen rebounding following the rout after Bank Negara announced a cut to to its overnight policy rate on Wednesday.

Maybank rose two sen to RM8.52, RHB gained four sen to RM5.85, Public Bank added four sen to RM19.18 and CIMB eked out a one sen gain to RM5.06.

Telcos were on the losing end, led by Maxis down nine sen to RM5.50, Axiata slipping three sen to RM4.23 and Digi dropping one sen to RM4.48.

Oil prices rose on Friday on a decline in US inventories, although it remained on track for a 5% decline over the week on fears China's coronavirus would dampen demand.

US crude gained 22 cents to US$55.81 a barrel and Brent crude climbed 21 cents to US$62.25 a barrel.

In currencies, the ringgit was up 0.3% against the US dollar at 4.0620, 0.3% against the pound sterling at 5.3293 and 0.2% against the Singapore dollar at 3.0078.