KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 29): The FBM KLCI snapped its positive run in early trade on Monday while stocks linked to low cost carrier AirAsia Bhd came under pressure after an aircraft belonging to its affiliate went missing early Sunday morning.  

At 9am, the FBM KLCI fell 6.79 points to 1,757.65.

The top losers included Petronas Gas Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, AirAsia, Tune Ins, Public Bank Bhd and LPI Capital Bhd.

Among the actives, AirAsia shares fell 12.24% to RM2.58, AAX lost 8.03% to 63 sen while Tune Ins fell 1.25% to RM1.54.  

AirAsia Indonesia’s flight SQ8501 from Surabaya to Indonesia lost contact early Sunday morning, some 42 minutes into a scheduled two and a half hour flight.

AirAsia Flight QZ8501 is owned by Indonesia AirAsia, an affiliate airline of Malaysia-based low cost carrier AirAsia group.

AirAsia Berhad has a 49% share in the airline with parent company Fersindo Nusaperkasa owning a 51% share.

Indonesia was set to resume at first light the search for an AirAsia plane carrying 162 people from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore, which went missing on Sunday just after the pilot requested a change in course to avoid bad weather, according to Reuters.

Singapore said it had sent two naval vessels to help the Indonesian military look for the Airbus A320-200 operated by Indonesia AirAsia, adding a C-130 air force plane took part in the search on Sunday, it said.

Asian stocks tip-toed higher on Monday, following fresh gains on Wall Street, while the euro wallowed near 28-month lows versus the dollar on nervousness ahead of a vote in the Greek parliament that could result in snap elections, according to Reuters.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.1 percent, it said.

RHB Retail Research in a note Monday said the FBM KLCI rebounded another by 14.70 pts last Friday, bringing total gains for the week to 48.45 points, adding that for the last two weeks, the index had already gained about 92 points.

The research house said that technically speaking, these gains were not coincidental.

“We now detect a total of five bullish reversal signals, suggesting that the market correction has likely reached a bottom, at the 1,671-point low recorded on Dec 17. As mentioned previously, the initial four signals are: i) a major bullish divergence which appeared on the daily RSI, ii) a bullish “Long Leg Doji” which was created above the 200-week MAV line, iii) the weekly RSI, at one point, reached the lowest RSI since the bull market started in 2009 – which was also similar to the level seen in 2011, and iv) a steep downtrend line on the daily chart has been violated. And, just at the end of last week, the newest reversal signal appeared – a bullish “Morning Star” reversal signal which was created above the 200-week MAV line.

“Nevertheless, do remember that the FBM KLCI would still need to challenge the main downtrend line – which extends from the historic high – to entirely wipe out the bearish sentiment. If not, the rebound that started since two weeks ago may just be a bearish rebound in a broader downtrend,” it said.