KUALA LUMPUR: World markets are taking step back after US President Donald Trump announced the implementation of a 10% tariff on US$200bil of Chinese imports starting next week.
Trump also warned that if China takes retaliatory action against US farmers and industries, the administration will pursue tariffs on about US$267 billion of additional imports.
While expected, the news represented a major escalation of the trade war. Wall Street futures slid on the news. Australia's ASX200 fell 0.45% but Japan's Nikkei bucked expectations, rising 0.5%.
At 9.05am, the FBM KLCI was dow 11.42 points to 1,792.34. Trading volume was 82.86 million shares valued at RM59.14mil. There were 82 gainers versus 204 decliners and 142 counters unchanged.
In its weekly technical report, Kenanga Research said the positive outlook on the FBM KLCI remains intact.
"Despite some weaknesses seen in key indicators, we believe the longer-term positive technical outlook remains intact until the 1,788 (S1) is breached, with 1,765 (S2) serving as a lower support further down.
"Otherwise, we expect the index to make its higher highs towards resistance levels 1,827 (R1) and 1,865 (R2) next."
Among actively traded stocks, Sapura Energy
rose 1.5 sen to 47 sen, MyEG gained two sen to RM1.66 and QES put on one sen to 31 sen.
Some of the leading gainers included Nestle, adding 30 sen to RM146.90, Aeon Credit, advnacing 14 sen to RM15.54, and UMW climbing six sen to RM5.38.
Top Glove was the top decliner in the early morning session, sliding 30 sen to RM10.20. Carlsberg slipped 26 sen to RM19.42 and Public Bank dropped 24 sen to RM24.70.
Oil markets dropped on Tuesday as the latest escalation in the Sino-US trade war clouded the outlook for demand, although concerns over tightening supply offered prices some support, Reuters reported.
Brent crude declined 27 cents to US$77.78 per barrel while WTI crude fell 32 cents to US$68.59 per barrel.
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