KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 20): The FBM KLCI fell 3.38 points or 0.2% on news China's factory output declined to a six-month low.

At 12.30pm, Malaysia's KLCI settled at 1,821.01 on losses in stocks like Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd (KLK) and RHB Capital Bhd.

Today, China's flash HSBC/Markit manufacturing purchasing managers' index fell to a six-month low of 50.0 from a final reading of 50.4 in October and well below the 50.3 forecast by analysts.

A gauge of how the world's second-largest economy is performing, the latest data has affected  market sentiment across the region.

Bursa Malaysia saw some 791 million shares worth RM609 million changed hands. There were 182 gainers versus 449 decliners.

The top gainer was Tenaga Nasional Bhd while leading decliner was KLK. The most-active stock was Minetech Resources Bhd.
 
Across Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.4% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng erased losses to trade 0.1% higher.

Singapore's Straits Times fell 0.35%.

Reuters reported that Asian stocks mostly fell on Thursday as fresh data signalling a further loss of momentum in China's economy weighed on sentiment, while the yen slid to multi-year lows against the dollar and euro.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.3 percent, briefly touching a three-week low.