KUALA LUMPUR (March 1): The FBM KLCI fell 0.53% at the midday break today and kept the local index below the psychologically crucial 1,700-point level, dragged by heavyweights.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI fell 9.04 points to 1,698.69.

Losers led gainers by 337 to 282, while 489 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 1.46 billion shares valued at RM961.52 million.

The top losers included Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, Genting Bhd, MNRB Holdings Bhd, Rapid Synergy Bhd, Mesiniaga Bhd, Pharmaniaga Bhd and Brahim's Holdings Bhd.

The actives included Bumi Armada Bhd, Dayang Enterprise Holdings Bhd, IFCA MSC Bhd, Sino Hua-An International Bhd, Seacera Group Bhd and Sapura Energy Bhd.

The gainers included Nestle (M) Bhd, Apex Healthcare Bhd, Aeon Credit Service (M) Bhd, Time dotCom Bhd, Heineken Malaysia Bhd and Yinson Holdings Bhd.

Asian shares rose on Friday, driven by a rally in Chinese markets after index publisher MSCI announced it would boost the proportion of mainland shares in its global benchmarks, while strong US economic data helped the US dollar higher, according to Reuters.

Chinese shares rallied, with the blue-chip CSI300 index adding 1.2% after MSCI said it would quadruple the weighting of mainland shares in its global benchmarks later this year, potentially drawing more than US$80 billion of fresh foreign inflows to the world's second-biggest economy, it said.

Affin Hwang Capital Research said the FBM KLCI Index continue to close in the red on Thursday, dropping 5.72 points or 0.33%, ending yesterday at 1,707.73.

"Market breadth was negative — 241 gainers, 702 losers with the index falling for three consecutive days now.

"Nonetheless, on a slightly more positive note, apart from being at the support level, prices are also just above the EMA100d which may provide additional support to the index.

"Technical indicators, namely RSI & Stochastic, are pulling away from the overbought region," it said.