KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 13): The FBM KLCI pared some of its gains at the midday break as prevailing downtrend sentiment capped the index's advance.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was up 7.97 points at 1,575.31. The index had earlier climbed 0.58% to a high of 1,579.23.

Gainers edged losers by 282 to 256, while 535 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 1.47 billion shares valued at RM851.7 million.

The gainers included United Plantations Bhd, Batu Kawan Bhd, Petronas Gas Bhd, Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd, Hong Leong Bank Bhd, Unisem (M) Bhd, Ajinomoto (M) Bhd and Tenaga Nasional Bhd.

The actives included Ekovest Bhd, Iskandar Waterfront City Bhd, Dynaciate Group Bhd, AT Systematization Bhd, D.B.E. Gurney Resources Bhd, Bumi Armada Bhd and Sapura Energy Bhd.

The decliners included Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd, Nestle (M) Bhd, British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, QL Resources Bhd, Prolexus Bhd, Latitude Tree Holdings Bhd, Petra Energy Bhd and Mercury Industries Bhd.

Reuters said Asian shares scaled eight-month peaks on Friday as a last-gasp Sino-US trade deal and a likely major election win by Britain's Conservative Party looked to have cleared a couple of dark clouds from the global horizon.

The double dose of relief slugged safe-haven sovereign bonds and the Japanese yen, and led markets to scale back the chance of more interest rates cuts around the world, it said.

Affin Hwang Capital Research said the FBM KLCI gained 4.15 points or 0.27%, to close at 1,567.34 on Thursday.

"Anticipate the FBM KLCI index as well as stocks as a whole to attempt slight rebound towards the year end as the short-term 'window dressing' activities likely to emerge on selected stocks.

"Note that the underlying market sentiments remain bearish thus any rebounds [are] likely to be short-lived.

"Major downtrend remains. 'Window dressing' play likely to unfold in the near term," it said.