KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 8): The FBM KLCI bucked the regional trend and back-pedalled in the mid-morning as select blue chips dragged, while Asian shares regained some footing.

At 10am, the KLCI was 3.09 points lower at 1,513.29.

Losers led gainers by 390 to 311, while 408 counters traded unchanged. Trading volume was two billion shares valued at RM763.31 million.

The top losers included Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd, Supermax Corp Bhd, Petronas Gas Bhd, Time dotCom Bhd, Latitude Tree Holdings Bhd, Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd and Public Bank Bhd.

The actively traded stocks included Evergreen Fibreboard Bhd, Nova MSC Bhd, NetX Holdings Bhd, Fintec Global Bhd, Kanger International Bhd, Borneo Oil Bhd, Iris Corp Bhd and Lustre Industries Bhd.

The gainers included Ajinomoto (Malaysia) Bhd, Lii Hen Industries Bhd, Ipmuda Bhd, Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd, DKSH Holdings (Malaysia) Bhd, Jaycorp Bhd, Ayer Holdings Bhd and Petronas Dagangan Bhd.

Reuters said US stock futures and Asian shares regained some footing today following a small bounce in European shares as investors looked to see whether high-flying US tech shares could recover from their recent rout.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2%, while Japan's Nikkei gained 0.4%. US financial markets were shut yesterday for a public holiday, while Europe's STOXX 600 index was 1.7% higher, it reported.

JF Apex Securities Research said European stocks rebounded strongly yesterday following progress in several coronavirus vaccines, while US markets were closed in observance of Labour Day.

“On the local market, the FBM KLCI reversed intraday losses to close 0.52 points higher at 1,516.38 points.

“Following the positive performance in Europe, the FBM KLCI could stage a rebound with support at 1,510 points and resistance at 1,550 points,” it said.