KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 30): The FBM KLCI remained lacklustre in the morning session trade today, as even the listings of Sime Darby Bhd’s demerged plantation and property divisions failed to ignite the local bourse.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI pared its gains and was up a paltry 0.23 points to 1,720.61. The index had earlier risen to its intra-morning high of 1,724.75.

Losers led gainers by 383 to 224, while 505 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 966.47 million shares, valued at RM1.09 billion.

The top gainers included British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Sime Darby Bhd, OldTown Bhd, Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd, Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd, Hong Leong Industries Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd, Heineken Malaysia Bhd, Ajinomoto (M) Bhd, Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd, Gamuda Bhd and Petronas Dagangan Bhd.

The actives included Sime, Trive Property Group Bhd, DGB Asia Bhd, Sime Darby Property Bhd, Mlabs Systems Bhd, Green Packet Bhd and UMW Oil & Gas Corp Bhd.

The losers included IQ Group Bhd, Sime Darby Plantations Bhd, Success Transformer Corp Bhd, Tasek Corp Bhd, Sime Darby Property, Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd, Southern Acids (M) Bhd, Petronas Gas Bhd and Inari Amertron Bhd.

Asian shares fell on Thursday, weighed down by a plunge in high-flying technology shares, a move that some see as a healthy correction after a strong rally, but others believe may herald the peak of a "super cycle" that has been boosting the sector, according to Reuters.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.9%, with technology bellwether Samsung Electronics falling 2.9% to two-month lows and Taiwan's TSMC down 1.9%, Reuters added.

Affin Hwang IB vice president and head of retail research Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan said Asian markets were anticipated to resume testing their respective immediate supports level, following Tech Rout, which saw the “FANG” (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google) plunge 3.7%, thus wiping out about US$60 billion of their combined market value and hence, led NASDAQ to retrace more than 1% in the overnight trading.

“In addition, almost all European markets continue to drift lower the last trading session.

“For the local market, the FBM KLCI Index is expected to move in tandem with the regional markets, with immediate support expected to be between 1700-1650 levels,” Dr Nazri said.