KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 9): Though the FBM KLCI pared some of its losses at the midday break today, the bourse remained in the negative zone, weighed by losses at select blue chips.
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was down 0.02 points to 1,763.98. The index had earlier dipped to its intra-morning low of 1,762.39.
Losers edged gainers by 313 to 205, while 486 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 1.50 billion shares valued at RM680.33 million.
The top losers included Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Tasek Corp Bhd, Rapid Synergy Bhd, Genting Bhd, Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd, Nestle (M) Bhd, Perusahaan Sadur Timah Malaysia (Perstima) Bhd, Boustead Heavy Industries Corp Bhd, Selangor Properties Bhd, Magni-Tech Industries Bhd and Hartalega Holdings Bhd.
The actively traded stocks included Hubline Bhd, Palette Multimedia Bhd, NetX Holdings Bhd, KNM Group Bhd, Cuscapi Bhd, Vizione Holdings Bhd and DutaLand Bhd.
The gainers included Amway (M) Holdings Bhd, Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd, Chin Teck Plantations Bhd, Southern Acids (M) Bhd, Lii Hen Industries Bhd, Aeon Credit Service (M) Bhd, Sinotop Holdings Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd and Lafarge Malaysia Bhd.
Chinese shares climbed on Monday after a week-long break as a disappointing survey on the country's service sector did little to dent optimism on global growth, while political uncertainty caused turbulence for the Turkish and British currencies, according to Reuters.
Liquidity was lacking with Japan and South Korea on holiday and a partial holiday in the United States where stocks will be open but bonds will be closed, it said.
CIMB Retail Research said with the help of the record-breaking Wall Street closes, the FBM KLCI index rebounded 8.42 points or 0.5% week-on-week after 'suffering' from the 8-to-10 consecutive black candles rules.
It said the morning doji star candle pattern which emerged near the support level of 1,753 may ignite more buying interests going forward.
"Meanwhile, the trading interest in FBM Small Cap, especially the Bursa Malaysia Technology Index and export oriented counters, could continue to speed up in the near future.
"Resistance: 1,770 & 1,780. Support: 1,753 & 1,745," it said.