KUALA LUMPUR (March 5): The FBM KLCI fell 0.89% at the mid-day break on Thursday, weighed by losses at key blue chips including Petronas-linked stocks and banking counters, and in line with the slip at regional markets.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI fell 16.18 points to 1,809.36. Market breadth turned negative with 523 losers and 205 gainers, while 262 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 1.10 billion shares valued at RM968.61 million.

The top losers included PPB Group Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd, Public Bank Bhd, Advance Packaging Bhd, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, C.I. Holdings Bhd, Genting Bhd, VS Industry Bhd, Kulim (M) Bhd and UMW Holdings Bhd.

The actives included Ingenuity Consolidated Bhd, Wintoni Group Bhd, Asia Bio Energy Technologies Bhd, SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd, Hubline Bhd, Perisai Petroleum Teknologi Bhd, Sanichi Technology Bhd and Nexgram Holdings Bhd.

The gainers included British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Nestle (M) Bhd, United Plantations Bhd, Inari Amertron Bhd, Batu Kawan Bhd, Panasonic Malaysia Manufacturing Bhd and Asia File Corporation Bhd.

Asian stocks slipped on Thursday after Wall Street continued to pull back from record highs ahead of Friday's closely-watched U.S. jobs data, while the nervous euro languished at an 11-year low prior to the European Central Bank's policy meeting, according to Reuters.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 0.4 percent with Australian, Malaysian and Chinese stocks posting losses, it said.
BIMB Securities Research said that in Asia, markets closed on Wednesday on a mixed note as recent uptrend may have prompted some profit-taking as well.

Locally, it said the FBM KLCI gained 4.29 points at 1,825.54 mainly attributed to buying support from the local institutions as yesterday saw a net outflow of foreign funds amounting RM69.5 million.

“We reckon the FBM KLCI to soften today with the 1,820 as the immediate support,” it said.