KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 2): The FBM KLCI pared some of its loss at the midday break on Friday, but looked set to start 2015 in the negative zone.

At 11.30pm, the FBMKLCI was down 0.65% or 11.38 points to 1,749.87. The index had earlier fallen to its intra-morning low of 1,741.45.

Market breadth was negative with 315 losers and 228 gainers, while 263 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 527.03 million shares valued at RM320.61 million.

The top losers included British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, United Plantations Bhd, PPB Group Bhd, Petronas Gas Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, Eversendai Corporation Bhd, and Oriental Holdings Bhd.

The actively traded counters included Malayan United Industries Bhd, Minetech Resources Bhd, JobStreet Corporation Bhd, Tiger Synergy Bhd, Kronologi Asia Bhd and Icon Offshore Bhd.

The gainers included UMW Holdings Bhd, Lafarge Malaysia Bhd, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, Guiness Anchor Bhd, MBM Resources and APM Automotive Holdings Bhd.

Stock markets in Asia were quiet with China, Japan, Thailand and the Philippines all on holiday. Australia's main index inched up 0.1 percent, while South Korea was down by a matching amount. Hong Kong rose 0.3 percent, according to Reuters.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.2 percent, having ended 2014 almost exactly where it began - a pattern it has repeated for three years straight, it said.

Economic data from the region was generally subdued, with China on Thursday reporting its official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) slipped to 50.1 in December, the lowest level of 2014, from November's 50.3, said Reuters.

AffinHwang Capital Research said it anticipated the FBM KLCI and stock prices in Bursa Malaysia as a whole to re-test their supports as 2014 year end closing activities completed.

“The FBM KLCI’s intraday Support 1740 -1730, Resistance:1790 – 1800,” it said.

Meanwhile, JF Apex Securities Research revised downward its end-2015 target for the FBM KLCI to 1,720 points from 1,930 previously and said the local stock market would continue to exhibit choppy trade as long as crude oil price stays sluggish and continued weakening of the ringgit against the US dollar.

In a strategy note Jan 2, the research house said foreign selling would re-emerge whenever there was a concern on the slump in oil price which could trigger the country’s fiscal budget and current account deficit.