KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI partially retraced losses after the release of China's GDP data, which showed slowing but stabilising economic growth.

The local market shed as much as five points in early morning trade but improved to just 1.77 points under at 1,667.68 by 12.30pm.

The rebound came following Beijing's announcement that China's economy had expanded 6.2% in Q2 2019, as predicted by analysts, in a sign that stimulus measures may taking effect.

Price movement among the 30-KLCI stocks was generally negative, in line with the broader stock exchange which recorded 428 decliners to 287 gainers and 384 counters unchanged.

Top active counters in the morning sessions were Netx losing 0.5 sen to 1.5 sen, Armada gaining two sen to 25 sen and KNM adding one sen to 37.5 sen.

Petronas Dagangan slipped the most on the KLCI, losing 12 sen to RM24.64, while Hartalega slipped 10 sen to RM5.12 and Top Glove shed five sen to RM4.68.

Advancing stocks were led by Dialog rising seven sen to RM3.45 and Genting Malaysia jumping seven sen to RM3.36.

Markets were mostly on the rise around the region. The Shanghai Composite was rose 0.8% while the CSI300 Index gained 0.9%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index and Japan's Nikkei Index put on 0.2% each.

South Korea's Kospi Index however slipped 0.1%

OIl prices slipped on Monday as China posted slowing GDP, reinforcing fears over demand from wthe world's largest crude oil imported.

US crude slid 15 cents to US$60.06 a barrel and Brent crude dropped eight cents to US$66.64 a barrel.

In currencies, the ringgit rose 0.15% against the greenback at 4.1068. It was flat against the pound sterling at 5.1506 and Singapore dollar at 3.0278.