KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 19): The FBM KLCI pared some of its gains as Asian markets slipped after China stocks lost momentum on profit taking activities.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was up 6.50 points to 1,824.88. The index had earlier risen to its intra morning high of 1,827.40.

The top gainers in the morning sesssion included Genting Bhd, Danainfra Nasional Bhd, PPB Group Bhd, Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd, Guiness Anchor Bhd, Telekom Malaysia Bhd and Genting Plantations Bhd.

Solution Engineering Holdings Bhd was the most actively traded counter with 58.81 million shares done. The stock rose 9.8% or 2.5 sen to 28 sen.

The other actives included IFCA MSC Bhd, Nexgram Holdings Bhd, TH Heavy Engineering Bhd, Systech Bhd, Technodex Bhd and Sumatec Resources Bhd.

The decliners included Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, Tasek Corporation Bhd, Lafarge Malaysia Bhd, Asia Brands Bhd, KLCC Property Holdings Bhd, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd and Negri Sembilan Oil Palms Bhd.

Regionally, Japanese shares gave up early gains on Wednesday as investors booked profits after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delayed a tax hike and said he would call a snap election to seek a fresh mandate for his economic policies, according to Reuters.

Asian shares slipped to a three-week low as resource shares were hit by fall in oil and other commodity prices and as Chinese shares lost momentum on continued profit taking after Monday's launch of the landmark Hong Kong-Shanghai trading link, it said.

JF Apex Securities Research said US market ended at record highs yesterday with S&P up 0.51% to 2051.80 points and DJIA surged 0.23% to settle at 17687.82 points.

Similarly, it said the European market closed in positive territory as German ZEW indicator of economic sentiment beat expectations.

“The FBM KLCI surged 11.9 points or 0.66% yesterday to close at 1818.38 points on the back of bargain hunting on blue chips.

“The benchmark index is expected to trade positively today but any gains will be followed by profit taking and pull the index below our immediate resistance level of 1830 points,” it said.