KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI shed 2.72 points to 1,683.8 in the early trading session with slightly improved turnover of 1.35 billion shares valued at RM659.25.
Trading activity remained low due to a gradual return from the Chinese New Year break while regionally, Japan's markets were closed for a national holiday.
At 12.30pm, market breadth on Bursa Malaysia was almost level with 344 decliners versus 336 advancers and 334 counters unchanged.
The local benchmark index has been moving in a tight range over recent weeks as new developments on the ongoing US-China trade negotiations kept investors guessing over an eventual outcome.
China's markets resumed trading on Monday after a week-long break, with the Shanghai Composite Index slumping briefly in the red before rising to a 0.8% gain by noon. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was similarly positive, gaining 0.2%, while South Korea's Kospi slipped marginally.
The top active counters on Bursa Malaysia were led by Sapura Energy
unchanged at 28 sen, Bumi Armada down 0.5 sen at 23 sen and Green Packet unchanged at 42 sen.
Leading the decliners, Nestle shed 30 sen to RM148.70, Lysaght dropped 20 sen to RM2.55 and Time dotCom fell 17 sen to RM8.19.
Gainers were Aeon Credit Services up 30 sen to RM16.50, Heineken up 22 sen to RM21.14 and BAT up 22 sen to RM37.42.
Crude oil prices fell as US oil rigs increased for the second time in three weeks, pointing to increasing activity. US crude dropped 70 cents to US$52.02 a barrel and Brent crude slid 58 cents to US$61.52 a barrel.
On the forex market, the ringgit was slightly lower against the basket of key currencies. It dipped 0.1% against the US dollar at 4.0740, 0.1% against the pound sterlign at 5.2663 and 0.1% against the Singapore dollar at 3.0030.
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