KUALA LUMPUR (June 15): The FBM KLCI clawed back at the midday break to eke out marginal gains and remain above the 1,790-point level as regional markets stayed tepid.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI added 0.39 points to 1,792.74. The index had earlier slipped to its intra-morning low of 1,788.27.

Losers led gainers by 452 to 275, while 380 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 1.06 billion shares valued at RM972.34 million.

The top gainers included Ajinomoto (M) Bhd, Sunway Bhd, Allianz Malaysia Bhd, United Plantations Bhd, Luxchem Corp Bhd, Iskandar Waterfront City Bhd (IWCity), Poh Huat Resources Holdings Bhd, Only World Group Holdings Bhd and Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV).

The actives included Anzo Holdings Bhd, IWCity, FGV, Frontken Corp Bhd, Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd, JAG Bhd, Kronologi Asia Bhd, Dagang NeXchange Bhd and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd.

The decliners included Far East Holdings Bhd, Panasonic Manufacturing Malaysia Bhd, Heineken Malaysia Bhd, Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd, Hengyuan Refining Company Bhd, Perusahaan Sadur Timah Malaysia (Perstima) Bhd and IQ Group Holdings Bhd.

US stock futures and Asian shares slid on Thursday, hit by soft US economic data, a relatively hawkish Fed and a media report that US President Donald Trump is being investigated by a special counsel for possible obstruction of justice, according to Reuters.

S&P mini futures dipped 0.3%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.7% while Japan's Nikkei fell 0.4%, it said.

AffinHwang Capital Research said stocks on Bursa Malaysia are expected to trade in tight range with large cap stocks remaining in the overbought territory.

"Thus we anticipate these stocks to take a breather in the near term, whereas rotational play on small cap stocks [is] expected to continue. Buy on weakness.

"The FBM KLCI index is anticipated to take a breather soon, nevertheless underlying trend remains bullish," it said.