KUALA LUMPUR (June 15): The FBM KLCI remained in negative territory at the midday break today as market sentiment was weak in line with dip at the regional markets.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI fell 2.91 points to 1,731.46.

Losers thumped gainers by 615 to 148, while 235 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 764.42 million shares valued of RM544.79 million.

The top losers included British America Tobacco (M) Bhd, KESM Industries Bhd, Allianz (M) Bhd, Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd, LTKM Bhd, UMW Holdings Bhd, SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd and IFCA MSC Bhd.

The top actives included Asia Media Bhd, IFCA MSC Bhd, Frontken Corporation Bhd, Felda Global, Xinghe Holdings Bhd, Spring Gallery Bhd, Nexgram Holdings Bdh and Nova MSC Bhd.

The top gainers included Nestle (M) Bhd, United Plantations Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Bhd, Top Glove Corporation Bhd, Rev Asia Bhd and Panasonic Malaysia Manufacturing Bhd.

Asian shares fell and the euro skidded in Asian trade on Monday, after Greece's talks with lenders to avert a default ended with no agreement and Wall Street logged losses ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting, according to Reuters.

European Union officials blamed the collapse of the talks on Athens, which it said had failed to offer any new concessions to secure funding it needs to repay 1.6 billion euros ($1.79 billion) to the International Monetary Fund by the end of this month, it said.

BIMB Securities Research said the FBM KLCI ended flat last Friday and slid 0.39 points to 1,734.37 on bargain hunting on plantation counters.

“The local market will remain bearish in the short term due to poor investor sentiment and expect the index to hovering at around 1,738 - 1,734,” it said.

Meanwhile, the heavy foreign selling on Bursa does not seem to be abating, with foreign investors have now been net sellers on Bursa for seven consecutive weeks, according to MIDF Research.

In his weekly fund flow report today, MIDF Research head Zulkifli Hamzah said that for the third week running, the amount offloaded was more than RM850 million a week.