KUALA LUMPUR (May 17):  The local market started off on a lacklustre note today despite the recovery at most regional markets, weighed by losses at select blue chips.

At 9am, the FBM KLCI dipped 1.18 points to 11,620.03.

The top losers included Hong Leong Bank Bhd, SP Setia Bhd, Heineken Malaysia Bhd, Hap Seng Consolidated Bhd, MISC Bhd, Telekom Malaysia Bhd, Apex Healthcare Bhd, AMMB Holdings Bhd and Gamuda Bhd.

Asian shares recovered from two-month lows on Tuesday after a rebound in technology giant Apple Corp and oil price gains boosted Wall Street, according to Reuters.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan ticked up 0.1 percent, extending the recovery from its two month low set on Friday. Japan's Nikkei gained about 1.0 percent, it said.

JF Apex Securities Research in a market preview today said US markets rallied about 1% led by energy stocks as oil prices hit fresh highs for the year and Apple shares staged a rebound.

It said that earlier, European stocks ended mixed after China's investment, factory output and retail sales grew slower than expected in April.

“On the local market, the FBM KLCI bucked regional trend, declining 7.05 points to 1621.21 points yesterday.

“Following the overnight bullish performance in the US, the FBM KLCI could follow suit and rebound after testing its support of 1615 yesterday,” it said,