KUALA LUMPUR (March 26): The FBM KLCI slipped in early trade on Thursday in line with the retreat at most regional markets following the overnight sell-off at Wall Street.

At 9am, the FBMKLCI dipped 2.25 points to 1,816.85.

The top losers included British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Cahay Mata Sarawak Bhd, IJM Corporation Bhd, Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd, Inari Amertron Bhd, Alliance Financial Group Bhd, My E.G. Services Bhd, UMW Holdings Bhd, Opcom Holdings Bhd, AMMB Holdings Bbd and Malayan Banking Bhd.

Asian shares slipped on Thursday as losses on Wall Street and soft U.S. economic data soured sentiment, while the dollar's bull run looked to have stalled for the time being, according to Reuters.

Dealers said synchronised selling in recently popular trades including biotech stocks, Treasuries and the dollar, smacked more of profit-taking for the quarter end than a major shift in market trends, it said.

BIMB Securities Research in a market preview Thursday said Asian markets were also broadly lower on Wednesday following data that factory activity from China came in weaker than anticipated.

Locally, it said the FBM KLCI was one of the very few shining beacon as the index gained 5.06 points at 1,819.10 as foreign buying became evident again on the local bourse.

“Yesterday saw another net foreign inflow of RM188.4 million and we expect the inflows to continue sustaining the market progress.

“We expect the index to hit the 1,820 as the immediate resistance with 1,825 as the next target,” it said.