KUALA LUMPUR (May 18): The FBM KLCI pared some of its losses at mid-morning today but the outlook for the market is seen tepid in the near term.

At 10.02am, the FBM KLCI was down 3.76 points to 1,629.63. The index had earlier dipped to a low of 1,621.46.

The top losers included Petronas Gas Bhd, PPB Group Bhd, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, Ta Ann Resources Bhd, Bursa Malaysia Bhd, Hong Leong Bank Bhd, UMW Holdings Bhd, Nestle (M) Bhd, Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd, IHH Healthcare Bhd and Petronas Dagangan Bhd.

The actives included AirAsia X Bhd, Salutica Bhd, Vivocom International Holdings Bhd, AirAsia Bhd, KNM Group Bhd, LKL International Holdings Bhd, AWC Holdings Bhd and Bumi Armada Bhd.

The gainers included British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd, Carlsberg Brewery (M) Holdings Bhd, Ajinomoto Malaysia Bhd, Lafarge Malaysia Bhd, Sciente Bhd and Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd.

Asian shares stepped back on Wednesday after strong U.S. inflation data and comments from Federal Reserve officials rekindled the prospects of the central bank raising rates later this year,according to Reuters.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.3 percent in early trade, while Japan's Nikkei was little changed, held up by stronger-than-expected reading in Japan's April-June GDP, it said.

Hong Leong IB Research said that today, it expects the FBM KLCI to trend sideway with upside bias in tandem with the overnight increase in crude oil prices and firmer ringgit against US Dollar (USD) amid bullish reversal Hammer candlestick pattern.

“However, any rebounds will be capped near 1,640 as traders will continue to stay cautious over continuous net selling from foreign institutions; higher likelihood of US interest rate hike which will diminish Ringgit against USD; as well as technical downtrend reading,” it said.