Asian markets, KLCI dip early Tuesday, eye on US-China trade spat

KUALA LUMPUR: Key Asian markets including Bursa Malaysia slipped early Tuesday as investors kept a close watch on the developments in the US-China trade war.

At 9.17am, the KLCI was down 0.29 points or 0.02% to 1,849.42. Turnover was 154.55 million shares valued at RM85.15mil. There were 162 gainers, 131 losers and 190 counters unchanged.

Asian shares edged lower on Tuesday as Wall Street retreated from its highs after the FBI raided the offices of US President Donald Trump's long time lawyer, dampening risk appetite already under strain from an escalating US-China trade spat, Reuters reported.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.2%. South Korea's KOSPI fell 0.8% while Japan's Nikkei shed 0.4%.

Oil prices dipped on Tuesday, easing after strong gains in the previous session when hopes that trade disputes between the United States and China could be resolved buoyed global markets, Reuters reported.

US WTI crude futures were at US$63.26 a barrel at 0031 GMT, down 16 cents, or 0.3%, from their previous settlement. Brent crude futures were at US$68.52 per barrel, down 13 cents, or 0.2%.

Kenanga Research said despite the KLCI had decisively broken through its resistance level of 1,840, overall technical outlook still bearishly biased.

“This is further supported by momentum indicators which have yet to show any meaningful signs of reversal as displayed by the downtrend in MACD and weaknesses in RSI and Stochastic. 

“From here the index could potentially free fall toward resistance-turned-support at 1840 (S1), or even 1800(S2) should S1 be decisively taken out. Conversely, should a positive turnaround occur, look towards resistance level 1880 (R1), with higher resistance at 1910 (R2),” it said.

Nestle fell RM1.80 to RM147.80, BAT 22 sen to RM23.36 but F&N rose 32 sen to RM33.16.

Hengyuan fell 21 sen to RM8.85 and Petron nine sen lower at RM8.66.

Ta Ann lost 14 sen to RM3.11, Genting seven sen to RM8.83 and MyEG six sen to RM2.57 while MAHB was down five sen to RM8.91.

Press  Metal continued its rebound, up 31 sen to RM4.69, KESM added 30 sen to RM15.10, Oriental 16 sen to RM6.30 while Top Glove gained 14 sen to RM9.99 andLCTitan 13 sen higher at RM6.19.