KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips traded lower early Monday as the current technical outlook for the FBM KLCI remains bearish but Press Metal rebounded after several days of losses following the US tariff threat on steel and aluminum prices.
At 9.31am, the KLCI was down 1.48 points or 0.08% to 1,835.53. Turnover was 271.92 million shares valued at RM128.39mil. There were 185 gainers, 240 losers and 209 counters unchanged.
Kenanga Research said despite last Friday’s gain, current technical picture remains bearish biased with the index trading below its 20 and 50-days simple moving averages (SMAs) while the MACD indicator continues its downtrend.
“Continued negative market sentiment is likely to see the index fall lower to its support levels at 1,800 (S1) and 1,780 (S2). A positive turnaround in local and global events, however, may see it head back up towards 1,840 (R1) or even 1,880 (R1),” it said.
Meanwhile, Asian shares edged higher on Monday as a bounce in US stock futures soothed sentiment even as U.S. President Donald Trump kept up his twitter war with China over trade just a couple of days before President Xi Jinping gives a keynote speech, Reuters reported.