KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 21): The FBM KLCI pared some of its losses at mid-morning today but was down 0.85% in line with the fall at regional markets.

At 10am, the FBM KLCI was down 14.5 points to 1,696.21. The index had earlier fallen to a low of 1,689.68.

Losers led gainers by 483 to 106, while 210 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 551.05 million shares valued at RM345.23 million.

The top losers included Nestle (M) Bhd, Allianz Malaysia Bhd, Heineken Malaysia Bhd, British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Time dotCom Bhd, Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd, Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd and Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd.

The actives included Sumatec Resources Bhd, Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd, Permaju Industries Bhd, Orion IXL Bhd and My EG Services Bhd.

The top gainers included Malaysia-listed Hang Seng Index-linked put warrants.

Asian stocks fell on Wednesday, weighed by a renewed bout of selling on Wall Street, and crude oil struggled after a sharp slide as economic growth concerns gripped global markets, according to Reuters.

The US dollar stood tall, rallying from a two-week low, as the currency found safe-haven demand from heightened risk aversion, it said.

Hong Leong IB Research in a traders' brief said with the uncertain trade development as US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will be discussing several agenda during the upcoming G20 summit, coupled with the softer outlook guidance from most of the tech giants, the volatility may remain over the near term with higher downside risk on Wall Street.

"On our local stock exchange, we anticipate the selling pressure could spill over to stocks on the local front with the unfavourable global trading tone as well as the weaker Brent oil prices, which may contribute to the negative trading tone amongst oil and gas stocks.

"Hence, the KLCI's upside will be capped along 1,726-1,730, while traders may look for safe-haven stocks under the consumer and utilities sectors," it said.