KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 16): The FBM KLCI pared some of its gains at the midday break today, after having traded within a tight range in the morning session as the downward bias remained intact.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was up 2.13 points to 1,568.36. The index had earlier risen to a high of 1,572.65.

Gainers edged losers by 289 to 263, while 539 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 1.74 billion shares valued at RM920.58 million.

The gainers included British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd, Heineken Malaysia Bhd, ViTrox Corp Bhd, Yinson Holdings Bhd, Hong Leong Bank Bhd, Allianz Malaysia Bhd, Spritzer Bhd and Ajinomoto (M) Bhd.

The actives included Sapura Energy Bhd, NetX Holdings Bhd, KNM Group Bhd, i-Stone Group Bhd and Bumi Armada Bhd.

The decliners included Southern Acids (M) Bhd, Rapid Synergy Bhd, Scientex Bhd, Dayang Enterprise Holdings Bhd, Nestle (M) Bhd, LPI Capital Bhd, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd, Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd and Unisem (M) Bhd.

Asian shares inched higher while sterling came off five-month highs in volatile trade on Wednesday as investors looked to whether Britain can secure a deal to avoid a disorderly exit from the European Union, according to Reuters.

Officials and diplomats involved in negotiations over the acrimonious divorce between the world's fifth-largest economy and its biggest trading bloc said that differences over the terms of the split had narrowed significantly, it said.

Affin Hwang Capital Research said the FBM KLCI Index turned slightly lower in yesterday's session, shedding 1.36 points or 0.09%, closing at 1,566.23.

"The index saw little change yesterday. A 'doji' (candlestick pattern) was formed yesterday on the daily chart which indicates indecision between buyers and sellers.

"Observing the daily time frame, note that MACD (moving average convergence divergence) is beginning to cross above the Signal line while RSI (relative strength index) and Stochastic are pointing higher, exiting oversold regions. All of these are pointing towards potential recovery in price.

"Downward bias remains intact," it said.