KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 21): The FBM KLCI slipped below the important 1,800-point psychological level again, ahead of the Deepavali holiday tomorrow.

At 5pm, the benchmark index fell 6.92 points or 0.4% to close at 1,796.22 points, led by losses in index heavyweights such as Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd and DiGi.Com Bhd.

Areca Capital CEO Danny Wong told TheEdge Markets.com that he saw no change in market fundamentals and expected the KLCI to continue to hover around the 1,800-point level for the time being.

Meanwhile, Hong Leong Investment Bank Research in a note today said it remained optimistic that the KLCI would see further relief rebound this week.

Across Bursa Malaysia, a total of 1.2 billion shares, worth RM1.4 billion were traded. Market gainers trailed decliners by 306 versus 464, while 293 counters were unchanged.

Top gainers were British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Nestle (M) Bhd, DKSH Holdings (M) Bhd and WZ Satu Bhd. It is worth noting that DKSH and WZ Satu also posted substantial gains in terms of percentage change, up 41 sen or 6.62% and 33 sen or 15.7%, respectively.

The leading decliners were Sam Engineering & Equipment (M) Bhd’s loan stock interest, SAM-LA, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd (KLK) and Fraser and Neave Holdings Bhd (F&N). SAM-LA fell a significant 44 sen or 23.4% to RM1.44, while posted relatively small losses in terms of percentage change.

The most active counter was Malaysian Airline System Bhd, which was unchanged at 25 sen, with 135 million shares traded.

In the region, Reuters reported that Asian shares languished after giving up small gains on Tuesday, as modest relief on data showing the Chinese economy grew slightly more than expected was replaced by lingering concerns of weakening momentum in the world's second-biggest economy.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 2.03%, while South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.77%.The Shanghai Composite Index also fell 0.72%.

Nevertheless, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed 0.08% higher and Singapore’s Straits Times Index closed up 0.68%.