KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 24): The FBM KLCI lost 0.63% at mid-morning today as investors stayed on the sideline ahead of the Christmas holiday, tracking muted regional markets, dragged by key index-linked Tenaga Nasional Bhd and Public Bank Bhd.

At 10am, the FBM KLCI lost 10.13 points to 1,604.05.

Losers led gainers by 278 to 161, while 287 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 404.24 million shares valued at RM196.21 million.

The top losers included Nestle (M) Bhd, Petronas Gas Bhd, Public Bank Bhd, MISC Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd, IOI Corp Bhd, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd, Favelle Favco Bhd and UMW Holdings Bhd.

The actives included MCT Bhd, WCE Holdings Bhd, i-Stone Group Bhd, Bumi Armada Bhd, Mudajaya Group Bhd, Solarvest Holdings Bhd, Rimbunan Sawit Bhd, Khee San Bhd, TDM Bhd and Ekovest Bhd.

The gainers included Hong Leong Industries Bhd, SAM Engineering & Equipment Bhd, Sarawak Consolidated Industries Bhd, Ajnomoto (M) Bhd, Daibochi Bhd and Scientex Bhd.

Bloomberg said Asian stocks face a muted Christmas Eve session on Tuesday, with trading diminishing at the end of a year that took a global benchmark to successive record highs.

After a becalmed session Monday on Wall Street, futures on Japanese and Hong Kong equity benchmarks were little changed. Australian shares opened flat. U.S. futures were also flat after the S&P 500 closed higher for the eighth time in nine sessions. Volume Monday was more than 20% below its 100-day average for most of the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average paced indexes as Boeing Co. surged after the company ousted Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg, it said.

Kenanga IB Research said Asian stocks ended mixed as investors take a step back in anticipation of a quiet Christmas week.

It said back home, the FBMKLCI rose by another 4.00 points or 0.25% to close at 1,614.18.

“Chart-wise, the index continued to trend higher after closing above all the key SMAs few days ago.

“Coupled with a bullish signal from MACD, we believe the index could move higher.

“From here, expect the index to test resistance levels at 1,630 (R1) and 1,650 (R2). Meanwhile, support levels to watch out for are 1,550 (S1) and 1,540 (S2),” it said,