KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 31): Last-minute bargain hunting dampened losses but could not help lift the FBM KLCI out of the red today, after the index was dragged down by a slew of foreign sell-offs an hour before close.

The benchmark index eked minimal gains in early trade and traded mostly sideways throughout the day before the steep sell-off, hitting a low of 1,742.60 before closing at 1,747.92, down 0.02% or 0.43 points.

"Foreign funds sold off non-GLC shares such as BAT, Genting and Sime Darby," said Inter-Pacific Securities research head Pong Teng Siew. "The local funds have bought into GLCs like Tenaga, but there was more profit-taking after a few days of uptrend," he told theedgemarkets.com.

The local equity market also took cue from news about uncertainties on the highly anticipated tax cut bill in the US, which has a self-imposed deadline set on Wednesday, added Pong.

Wall Street pulled back from record-high territory on Monday, weighed down by a drop in drugmaker Merck and a report that US lawmakers are discussing gradual phase-in corporate tax cuts rather than reducing it all at once, Reuters reported.

Across Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipped 0.32%, South Korea's Kospi rose 0.86% while Japan's Nikkei 225 traded flattish to close 0.06 points lower.

Back home, Bursa Malaysia saw 420 gainers and 412 losers, while 461 counters traded unchanged. Some 3.15 billion shares were traded, for a total value of RM2.78 billion.