KUALA LUMPUR (July 27): The FBM KLCI dipped 0.25% at midday break but pared its losses to stay above the 1,760-point level.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was down 4.48 points to 1,761.75. The index had earlier dipped to its intra-morning low of 1,760.25.

On Bursa Malaysia, all indices were in the red, save for Mining, Industrial and REIT.

Losers led gainers by 358 to 189, while 544 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 1.17 billion shares, valued at RM772.96 million.

The top losers included Riverriew Rubber Estates Bhd, Top Glove Corp Bhd, Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd, PPB Group Bhd, MSM Malaysia Holdings Bhd, Dialog Group Bhd, Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd, Ipmuda Bhd and Oriental Holdings Bhd.

The actives included Sapura Energy Bhd, Pegasus Heights Bhd, Sino Hua-An International Bhd, Lay Hong Bhd, Priceworth International Bhd and Trice Property Group Bhd.

The gainers included British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Panasonic Manufacturing Malaysia Bhd, ViTrox Corp Bhd, Westports Holdings Bhd, Ancom Bhd, Heineken Malaysia Bhd, Genting Bhd and Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd.

Asian stocks struggled to gain traction on Friday, following a mixed Wall Street finish and as the worsening Sino-U.S. trade dispute kept investors in the region cautious, despite signs of rapprochement between the United States and Europe, according to Reuters.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.1%. The CSI300 of Chinese shares fell 0.5%, Reuters said.

Kenanga IB Research said Asian markets finished mix with China market falling lower, despite easing of trade tension between US and EU.

On the local bourse, FBM KLCI ticked upward by 2.45 points or 0.14% to end at 1,766.23, the research house added.

“Technically, the index outlook is positive-bias, as evidenced by bullish stance on MACD and RSI indicators.

“From here, we expect a continuation towards next resistance at 1,790 (R1) and 1,830 (R2) further up,” it said.