KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 2): The FBM KLCI dipped 0.35% at mid-morning today, tracking losses at regional markets, dragged by select blue chips.

At 10am, the FBM KLCI fell 5.49 points to 1,583.95.

Losers led gainers by 303 to 147, while 272 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 447.22 million shares valued at RM195.46 million.

The top losers included Public Bank Bhd, Nestle (M) Bhd, Keck Seng (M) Bhd, Hengyuan Refining Company Bhd, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd, MBM Resources Bhd, Amway (M) Holdings Bhd and Hong Leong Bank Bhd.

The actives included Vivocom International Holdings Bhd, Sapura Energy Bhd, Bumi Armada Bhd, MNC Wireless Bhd, Vsolar Group Bhd and Uzma Bhd.

The gainers included Panasonic Manufacturing Malaysia Bhd, Aeon Credit Service (M) Bhd, ViTrox Corp Bhd, Magni-Tech Industries Bhd, Toyo Ink Group Bhd, Unisem (M) Bhd, Petra Energy Bhd and Harbour-Link Group Bhd.

Global shares retreated to one-month lows on Wednesday after US manufacturing activity tumbled to more than a decade low, sparking worries that the fallout from the US-China trade war is starting to spread to the US economy, according to Reuters.

A slowdown in US economic growth would remove one of the few remaining bright spots in the global economy and come just as Europe is seen as close to falling into recession, it said.

Hong Leong IB Research said given the weak ISM manufacturing data in the US, coupled with the slowdown in Europe, the research house thinks the upside on Wall Street could be limited.

"In addition, the protracted trade war may dampen the sentiment over the near term. Unless both the US and China could strike a deal in the upcoming meeting in Washington, Wall Street may still trade on a downward bias tone.

"Still, the traded volume on the local bourse was below the 2.0 billion mark, indicating lacklustre trading tone across the board.

"This could be due to lack of fresh leads in the stock markets as most of the investors are waiting for more clues from the upcoming Budget 2020 as well as the trade discussion between the US and China in Washington on Oct 10.

"Although the negative sentiment may spill over from Wall Street, we think traders may continue to focus on technology stocks on the back of weaker ringgit tone," it said.