KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 12): The FBM KLCI fell 0.41% in early trade Wednesday, dragged by losses at index-linked glovemakers, against the backdrop of drifting regional markets tracking the overnight retreat at Wall Street.

At 9.05am, the benchmark index was down 6.43 points to 1,558.31.

The top losers included Supermax Corp Bhd, Top Glove Corp Bhd, Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd, Hartalega Holdings Bhd, Rubberex Corp Bhd, Careplus Group Bhd, Comfort Gloves Bhd, UPA Corp Bhd and HLT Global Bhd.

Bloomberg said Asian stocks drifted Wednesday after their US peers retreated on doubts over the timing of a spending package from Washington.

Gold steadied after tumbling the most in seven years, it said.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd in its daily market report said Wall Street tumbled late in the session as profit-taking activities emerged on tech stocks.

It said the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which was above 28,000 level at one point, eventually lost 104 points to close around 27,690.

“With this, we reckon regional markets to be rather mixed today as the China-US tension remains.

“On the local front, the FBM KLCI continued to slide and we believe this to continue amid the price volatility amongst the glove stocks.

“Therefore, we expect the FBM KLCI to possibly trend within the 1,555 and 1,570 range today. Meanwhile, gold price suffered to close at US$1,920/oz as profit taking took place,” it said.