KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 29): The FBM KLCI remained in the negative zone at midday break, tracking regional markets, while index-linked glove makers took a breather.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI dipped 1.16 points to 1,550.48. The index had earlier ticked up to a high of 1,554.42.

Gainers led losers by 318 to 255, while 533 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 1.49 billion shares, valued at RM1.17 billion.

The top losers included Top Glove Corp Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, Hartalega Holdings Bhd, Icon Offshore Bhd, Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd, LPI Capital Bhd and UMS-Neiken Group Bhd.

The actives included Avillon Bhd, Careplus Group Bhd, DGB Asia Bhd, Supermax Corp Bhd, KNM Group Bhd, Eden Inc Bhd, mTouche Technology Bhd and Bumi Armada Bhd.

The gainers included Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd, Batu Kawan Bhd, British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Time Dotcom Bhd, Allianz Malaysia Bhd, Heineken Malaysia Bhd, Axiata Group Bhd and Aeon Credit Service Bhd.

Reuters said Asian shares erased earlier gains on Wednesday, swinging into negative territory as a spike in new Chinese virus cases sent Hong Kong stocks tumbling and fuelled fears about the economic impact of the outbreak.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.52%. Hong Kong shares fell 2.8% on their first session after a two-and-a-half trading day break for Lunar New Year, led by declines in financial services, real estate and consumer goods companies, it said.

Affin Hwang Capital Research said the FBMKLCI Index plunged 22.8 points or 1.4% to close at 1551.64 on Tuesday.

The research house said the index gapped down at the start of yesterday’s trading session and continued pushing lower throughout the session, culminating in an obvious win for sellers.

“Price retested the 1550 key support level. Currently, the selling pressure and short-term downtrend remains firm, as supported by selected key technical indicators on the daily timeframe, which are trading in bearish territories and showing no clear signs of a reversal to the upside.

“Hence, the index may continue pushing lower, past the current 1550 support level.

“Anticipate the index to trade with downward bias,” Affin Hwang Capital said.