KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 1): The FBM KLCI reversed its earlier losses and notched up marginal gains at the midday break today, in line with the advance at most regional markets.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark index rose 4.99 points to 1,677.15. The index had earlier dipped to its intra-morning low of 1,667.16.

Gainers led losers by 428 to 334, while 287 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 1.26 billion shares valued at RM966.14 million.

The top gainers included British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, SWS Capital Bhd, Carlsberg Brewery (M) Holdings Bhd, Lafarge Malaysia Bhd, Latitude Tree Holdings Bhd, RHB Capital Bhd, Malayan Banking Bhd and Guinness Anchor Bhd.

The active counters included 1 Utopia Bhd, XOX Bhd, RGB International Bhd, Wintoni Group Bhd, Instacom Group Bhd, China Stationery Ltd Bhd, Borneo Oil Bhd and Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd.

The decliners included Aeon Credit Services (M) Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd, Asia File Corporation Bhd, Hong Leong Bank Bhd and Genting Plantations Bhd.

Asian shares were solidly higher on Tuesday, shrugging off one Chinese factory survey that did little to ease persistent concerns about cooling growth in the economy, while a private survey showed a hint of stabilisation, according to Reuters.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan extended early gains and was up 1.1%, while Japan's Nikkei added 0.9%, it said.

BIMB Securities Research said the key regional indexes finished mixed yesterday following the selldown in Chinese stocks recently.

Locally, it said the FBM KLCI lost 10.43 points to close off the day's low at 1,672.16 attributable to some last minute buying from foreign funds with a net foreign inflow of RM55.7 million yesterday.

"We foresee the local bourse to remain sideways today as the noise of the Feds to increase rate is getting louder in December.

"As such, we expect the index to trend between the 1,675 and 1,680 range today," it said.

(Note: The Edge Research’s fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)