KUALA LUMPUR (June 28): The FBM KLCI pared some of its losses at the midday break today amid some feeble window-dressing activities ahead of the final trading day of the first half of 2018 tomorrow.

However, at 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was down 0.71 points to 1,665.37. The index had earlier dipped to its intra-morning low of 1,657.78.

Year to date, the benchmark index had lost some 131 points.

The losers led gainers by 305 to 171, while 500 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 753.13 million shares valued at RM554.04 million.

The top losers included Ajinomoto (M) Bhd, Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd, Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd, Panasonic Manufacturing Malaysia Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd, PMB Technology Bhd, Genting Plantations Bhd, Public Bank Bhd, Scientex Bhd and DiGi.Com Bhd.

The actives included SKH Consortium Bhd, APFT Bhd, Sapura Energy Bhd, Barakah Offshore Petroleum Bhd, Iris Corp Bhd, Berjaya Corp Bhd and Mi Equipment Holdings Bhd.

The gainers included British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, United Plantations Bhd, Padini Holdings Bhd, Petronas Gas Bhd, Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd, Malayan Banking Bhd, Top Glove Corp Bhd, Nestle (M) Bhd and KESM Industries Bhd.

Most Southeast Asian stock markets fell on Thursday, with the Philippines giving up the previous session's solid gains and Indonesia plunging to a more than one-year low, as simmering US-China trade tensions kept investors off risky bets, according to Reuters.

Asian stocks slumped to nine-month lows on Thursday after Wall Street retreated overnight on renewed uncertainty regarding the US stance on Chinese investments in American technology companies, it said.

MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd Research in a strategy note today said while investors are waiting for the dust to settle as far as government policies and actions are concerned, they should not forget the headwinds from the geopolitical events which are not just affecting the local market but also neighbouring countries and even developed nations (e.g. US-China trade war, US-North Korea plan to denuclearise the Korean peninsula).

"Hence we expect (the) [market] to be a bit quiet in the next few months as its trading value has already hit a record high twice in May, e.g. trading value of RM7.3 billion on May 14 (first day market open after GE14) and trading value of RM9.3 billion on May 31 (date of MSCI rebalancing).

"The sheer magnitude of the latter shows that there is still interest in our market as foreign investors, particularly ETF funds, switch stocks in light of stock exclusion and inclusions during rebalancing," it said.