KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 17): The FBM KLCI was off its morning session highs at the midday break as losers outpaced gainers and technical indicators showed that the local index could be taking a breather.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was up 5.83 points at 1,593.71. The index had earlier risen to a high of 1,595.26.

Losers edged gainers by 282 to 246, while 574 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 1.58 billion shares valued at RM966.19 million.

The gainers included Petronas Dagangan Bhd, Axiata Group Bhd, Sarawak Consolidated Industries Bhd, Gamuda Bhd, Padini Holdings Bhd, Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd, Heineken Malaysia Bhd, Digi.Com Bhd and Kejuruteraan Asastera Bhd.

The actives included Vortex Consolidated Bhd, Alam Maritim Resources Bhd, Sapura Energy Bhd, DGB Asia Bhd and I-Bhd.

The losers included Nestle (M) Bhd, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd, Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, KESM Industries Bhd, Sarawak Oil Palms Bhd and Westports Holdings Bhd.

Reuters said Asian shares rose on Friday after global stock indexes and Wall Street posted more records, and as China's economic growth matched expectations in spite of US trade pressures.

The world's second-largest economy grew 6% in the fourth quarter of 2019 from a year earlier, and 6.1% for the full year, official data showed on Friday, it said.

Affin Hwang Capital Research said the FBM KLCI gained 2.74 points or 0.2%, to close at 1,587.88 on Thursday.

The research house said the index managed to end higher at the end of yesterday's session, closing just in the green.

It said that currently, the price appears to be taking a breather after experiencing a strong decline last week all through towards early this week.

"Even though the price was supported just above the 1,575 minor support, overall short-term direction is still pointing downwards. Also, the EMA20d (20-day exponential moving average) steadily converging towards the EMA50d signals a growing downward

"Anticipate the index to trade with downward bias," it said.