KUALA LUMPUR (July 30): The FBM KLCI remained subdued at the midday break today, tracking its regional peers.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was down 0.99 points to 1,768.15. The index had earlier slipped to its intra-morning low of 1,765.90.

Most of the indices on Bursa Malaysia were mired in the red today.

Losers led gainers by 355 to 215, while 526 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 1.3 billion shares valued at RM783.09 million.

The top losers included BLD Plantation Bhd, MB World Group Bhd, Time dotCom Bhd, IHH Healthcare Bhd, Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd, Heineken Malaysia Bhd, Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd, Petronas Gas Bhd, Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd, MISC Bhd and Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd.

The actives included Sino Hua-An International Bhd, Velesto Energy Bhd, My E.G. Services Bhd, Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd, Borneo Oil Bhd, Sapura Energy Bhd, PUC Bhd and Iskandar Waterfront City Bhd.

The gainers included Far East Holdings Bhd, Panasonic Manufacturing Malaysia Bhd, British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Nestle (M) Bhd, Aeon Credit Service (M) Bhd, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, Apex Healthcare Bhd and LPI Capital Bhd.

Asian share markets drifted lower on Monday while currencies kept to familiar ranges at the start of a busy week peppered with central bank meetings, corporate results and updates on US inflation and payrolls, according to Reuters.

Technology and energy shares led Japan's Nikkei down 0.7%, and tech also featured in South Korea's 0.2% decline, it said.

Affin Hwang Capital Research said the FBM KLCI Index ended last week on a positive note (up 2.91 points).

"This week may see prices consolidate with slight downward bias. Moving forward, investors would probably stay on the sidelines, observing price action this week before deciding further.

"The FBM KLCI Index likely to move sideways with downward bias in the near term," it said.