KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 25): The FBM KLCI pared some of its loss at the midday break today but remained firmly below the crucial 1,700-point level, in line with the rout at regional markets.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI lost 0.82% or 13.95 points to 1,676.09.

Losers hammered gainers by 818 to 97, while 998 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 1.28 billion shares valued at RM1.14 billion.

The top losers included Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd, KESM Industries Bhd, Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd, Nestle (M) Bhd, Ajinomoto (M) Bhd, Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd, Pentamaster Corp Bhd, Vitrox Corp Bhd, Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd and Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd.

The actives included Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd, Frontken Corp Bhd, Inari Amertron Bhd, Iris Corp Bhd, Prestariang Bhd, My EG Services Bhd and Sapura Energy Bhd.

The gainers were dominated by Malaysia-listed Hang Seng Index-linked put warrants, Wong Engineering Corp Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd and MISC Bhd.

Asian shares dived on Thursday as hundreds of billions of dollars haemorrhaged from global markets after a rout in tech stocks inflicted the largest daily decline on Wall Street since 2011, wiping out all its gains for the year, according to Reuters.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan skidded about 2%. Japan's Nikkei tumbled 3.5% to a six-month trough while Australian shares hit a more than one-year low, it said.

Affin Hwang Capital Research said the FBM KLCI Index continued to slide further (down 7.56 points) on Wednesday.

"Anticipate further weakness in our local market as sentiments surrounding the global arena continue to worsen. Immediate support level seen around the 1,630-1,600 level.

"The FBM KLCI Index anticipated to resume lower, technical rebound perceived as completed," it said.