KUALA LUMPUR (April 28): The FBM KLCI remained in the negative zone at mid-morning amidst some choppy trading in the morning session, weighed by select blue chips including Genting Bhd and Tenaga Nasional Bhd.

At 10.01am, the FBM KLCI was down 1.33 points to 1,691.01.

The top losers included Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, Hap Seng Consolidated Bhd, Lafarge Malaysia Bhd, Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd, Hong Leong Bank Bhd, SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd, Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Holdings Bhd, Genting, Westports Holdings Bhd and Tenaga.

The actives included Spring Gallery Bhd, SapuraKencana, AirAsia X Bhd, Bumi Armada Bhd, AWC Bhd, KNM Group Bhd and XOX Bhd.

The gainers included Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd, Manulife Holdings Bhd, Ajinomoto (Malaysia) Bhd, Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd, PPB Group Bhd, Petronas Gas Bhd, Sarawak Oil Palms Bhd, Muhibbah Engineering (M) Bhd, Scientex Bhd and Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd.

The dollar and US stock futures edged up in the wake of the US Federal Reserve's statement that offered few clues on its monetary policy outlook, but moves were slight as investors awaited the Bank of Japan's policy decision, according to Reuters.

In its statement issued after its meeting on Wednesday, the Fed left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, but kept the door open to a hike in June while showing little sign it was in a hurry to tighten, it said.

Hong Leong IB Research said given the unchanged Federal Open Market Committee stance on rate hike path, another 2016 high in crude oil prices and a reversal Hammer candlestick formed at the bottom of recent short-term downtrend yesterday, it expects the FBM KLCI to stage a relief rally to test the psychological level of 1,700 today.