KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 16): The FBM KLCI pared some of its gains at mid-morning today, remaining above its support level of 1,550.

At 10am, the FBM KLCI was up 3.17 points to 1,569.40. The index had earlier risen to a high of 1,572.65.

Gainers led losers by 324 to 176, while 308 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 872.66 million shares valued at RM352.87 million.

The gainers included British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Yinson Holdings Bhd, Ajinomoto (M) Bhd, Heineken Malaysia Bhd. Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, Allianz Malaysia Bhd, Spritzer Bhd and Hengyuan Refining Company Bhd.

The actives included NetX Holdings Bhd, Sapura Energy Bhd, KNM Group Bhd, i-Stone Group Bhd, Velesto Energy Bhd and Bumi Armada Bhd.

The decliners included Rapid Synergy Bhd, Aeon Credit Service (M) Bhd, Magni-Tech Industries Bhd, Lingkaran Trans Kota Holdings Bhd, Grand Hoover Bhd and Ta Ann Holdings Bhd.

Asian shares took off on Wednesday and sterling held near six-month highs as Britain and the EU made headway on a Brexit deal ahead of a leaders' summit though it remained unclear if London could avoid postponing its scheduled departure on Oct 31, according to Reuters.

Officials and diplomats involved in negotiations over the acrimonious divorce between the world's fifth-largest economy and its biggest trading bloc said that differences over the terms of the split had narrowed significantly, it said.

Kenanga IB Research said Asian markets were mixed yesterday as doubts emerged on the US-China trade deal following reports of Chinese officials wanting more talks before actually signing the deal.

It said back home, the FBM KLCI slipped marginally by 1.36 points or 0.09% to close at 1,566.23.

"Chart-wise, underlying trend remains bearish as the index is trading below all the key SMAs (simple moving averages).

"However, given near oversold signals from RSI (relative strength index) and stochastic, we do not discount the possibility of a rebound rally.

"Support levels can be identified at 1,550 (S1) and 1,510 (S2), while overhead resistance levels can be found at 1,630 (R1) and 1,650 (R2)," it said.