KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 10): The FBM KLCI is expected to remain lacklustre today as most global markets slipped ovrrnight on Tuesday on weaker China markets and flat Wall Street performance.

Global equity markets fell on Tuesday after China's market posted its worst day in five years and political turmoil hit Greece, while the U.S. S&P 500 erased losses to end mostly flat on gains in technology and energy shares, according to Reuters.

The drop in Chinese shares hurt risk sentiment, while a fall in oil prices to levels not seen since 2009 contributed to a second straight daily loss in European stocks and suggested global economic weakness.

The S&P 500 closed down just 0.02 percent at 2,059.82, while the Nasdaq Composite closed up 0.54 percent at 4,766.47. The Dow Jones industrial average, meanwhile, closed down 0.29 percent at 17,801.2, said Reuters.

AllianceDBS Research in its evening edition Tuesday said the FBM KLCI came under selling pressure again on Dec 9 after the opening bell as market participants were reluctant to play a buying game.

It said under the sustained selling activity, the benchmark index went down to a low of 1,730.77 before settling off the day’s low at 1,738.10 (- 2.74, - 0.16%).

“In the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers with 647 stocks ending lower and 216 stocks finishing higher. That gave a market breadth of 0.33 indicating the bears were in control,” it said.

AllianceDNS Research said that with weak market sentiment and no positive newsflow, the FBM KLCI extended its fall on Dec 9.

It said the benchmark index had only registered 2 days of up close out of the 9 market days since Nov 27.

“This is a little unnerving for risk adverse market participants which have seen 30% to 40% decline in value in such a short time.

“The lower low on Dec 9 indicated that sellers were again in control of the game. Having made lower low for 9 consecutive days, the benchmark index is still looking for a stabilizing level,” it said.

The research house said the market was earlier expected to hold its position in the area of 1,730, but there was still no clear technical evidence of support at this juncture.

It said given the down close on Dec 9, new attempts to test the 1,730 level is likely to be made in the coming days.

Indicator wise, the MACD is below the 9-day moving average line, it said.

“The analysis of overall market action on Dec 9 revealed that buying power was weaker than selling pressure.

“As such, the FBM KLCI would likely trade below the 1,730.77 level on Dec 10,” it said.