KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 12): The FBM KLCI remained under selling pressure at mid-morning today as sentiment at regional markets stayed tepid.

At 10am, the FBM KLCI was down 2.44 points to 1,666.28.

The top losers included British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Batu Kawan Bhd, Lafarge Malaysia Bhd, Goldis Bhd, Malayan Banking Bhd, Gas Malaysia Bhd, Tien Wah Press Holdings Bhd, Public Bank Bhd and Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd.

The actives included Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd, Borneo Oil Bhd, Nexgram Holdings Bhd, Asia Media Group Bhd, Vivocom Intl Holdings Bhd and Compugates Holdings Bhd.

The gainers included DKSH Holdings (M) Bhd, Ajinomoto (M) Bhd, IGB Corp Bhd, Lebtech Bhd, Latitude Tree Holdings Bhd, Lay Hong Bhd and Top Glove Corp Bhd.

Asian shares flirted with three-week lows on Wednesday after a dour start to Wall Street's corporate earnings season knocked US stocks, while the dollar and Treasury yields rose on growing expectations of a US rate hike in December, according to Reuters.

The British pound jumped back from lows in a volatile trading session though concerns about a "hard Brexit" are likely to keep the currency under pressure, it said.

On the back of an overnight sharp decline in Dow and oil prices coupled with strengthening US dollar, the FBM KLCI may witness some selling pressure today, said Hong Leong IB Research.

"However, any panic selldown will still be cushioned by positive expectations of Budget 2017 and the readiness of Bank Negara Malaysia to support economic growth via easing," it said.