KUALA LUMPUR (June 27): The FBM KLCI pared some of its loss at the midday break today but the broader market sentiment remained fragile in line with volatile regional markets.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was down 7.43 points to 1,626.62. The index had earlier fallen to its intra-morning low of 1,618.25.

Losers outpaced gainers by 491 to 168, while 290 counters remained unchanged. Volume was 638 million shares valued at RM460.63 million.

The top losers included British American Tobacco (Malaysia) Bhd, Panasonic Manufacturing Malaysia Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, Lafarge Malaysia Bhd, IHH Healthcare Bhd, Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd, Hap Seng Consolidated Bhd, Hong Leong Bank Bhd and Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Bhd.

The actives included Vivocom International Holdings Bhd, LKL International Bhd, Bumi Armada Bhd, SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd, AirAsia Bhd and AirAsia X Bhd.

The gainers included Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, Petronas Gas Bhd, Ajinomoto (Malaysia) Bhd, Far East Holdings Bhd, Warisan TC Holdings Bhd and Top Glove Corporation Bhd.

Asian stocks fell and the British pound tumbled more than 2% on Monday as markets struggled to shake off deep uncertainty sparked by Britain's decision to leave the European Union (EU), according to Reuters.

Sentiment remained weak and trading was volatile, even if the worst of the turmoil seen on Friday (June 24), when global stock markets suffered their biggest decline in nearly five years, had eased, it said.

Kenanga IB Research said global markets tumbled after Britain had voted to quit the EU last Friday.

Nonetheless, it said the FBM KLCI came out as one of the best survivors of the regional bloodbath as it staged a late comeback from an intraday low of 1,611.88 points to close just 5.93 points lower at 1,634.05 points during the closing bell.

The research house said it appeared that strong buying support had emerged at the 1,600/20 zone, where investors took opportunity to accumulate on quality bashed-down stocks.

It said that indicators-wise, it was still downside-bias at this juncture as the MACD histogram is still below its zero line while relative strength index and Stochastic are looking lethargic.

"While the grass is greener among Malaysian blue chips, second liners are the ones who took the beating as the FBMSC Index plummeted 215.78 points or 1.43% to its year-to-date low level of 14,876.41.

"With the broader market sentiment expected to be dampened further with growing uncertain outcome from the Brexit while we face weaker crude oil and ringgit, the FBM KLCI is expected to trade downside-bias on a volatile fashion within 1,600–1,640 this week," it said.