KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia's optimism faded within minutes of the opening bell as it erased gains to return to the starting line.
Japan's markets reached for a fresh 27-year high on news that trade tension in North America may finally have eased, lending more positivity in the global trade environment.
Chinese markets remained closed for its Golden Week holidays.
At 9.05am, the FBM KLCI was down 0.53% to 1,791.93. There were 203.24 million shares traded valued at RM76.82mil. There were 163 gainers versus 84 decliners and 181 counters unchanged.
Topping the most active list, Sapura Energy
was up one sen to 43.5 sen while Reach Energy gained 1.5 sen to 51 sen and Nova MSC gained 0.5 sen to 18 sen.
AirAsia was among the early gainers, adding four sen to RM3.10. Heavyweight Genting rose four sen to RM7.81 while Hengyuan climbed 12 sen to RM6.62.
Hartalega slid four sen to RM6.56 in early trade. Maybank Investment Bank said in a Tuesday research report that said the glovemaker's upcoming 2QFY19 core earnings is expected to be flattish.
Meanwhile, CIMB slid three sen to RM5.98, Tenaga dipped two sen to RM15.50, Axiata shed two sen to RM4.63 and Public Bank lost two sen to RM23.98.
Oil prices edged up on Tuesday, holding near a four-year high reached the previous day as markets adjust to the prospect of tighter supply once the U.S. sanctions against Iran kick in next month, Reuters reported.
Brent crude oil futures were trading at US$85.05 per barrel, up seven cents from their last close, near the US$85.45 peak reached in the previous session, its highest since November 2014.
US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 25 cents at US$75.55 a barrel.
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