KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI was slightly lower at the end of the early session despite hopeful investors picking up on global equities as fresh trade talks between the US and China loomed.
Also helping to boost equities was recent reports that US lawmakers had arrived at a deal to prevent a partial government shutdown at the end of the week.
Howeever the FBM KLCI remained in the red, down 2.45 points to 1,686.11 at 12.30pm.
Other Southeast Asian indices in the red included the Jakarta Composite Index down 1% and the Philippines PSE Index down 0.3%.
There has been muted movement on the local market in recent days given the seasonally slow Chinese New Year period, and as investors await fresh catalysts from the trade talks and the onset of Corporate Malaysia's earnings season, which will pick up speed in the latter half of February.
"We maintain our neutral outlook, as the index remains above the 20 and 50 day-SMAs but other momentum indicators are starting to show signs of slowing down," said Kenanga research in its technical outlook.
The research house expects the local benchmark index to trend higher towards its resistance at 1,730 and 1,800 on a positive outcome from the trade talks.
For the morning session, trading volume on Bursa Malaysia was 1.5 billion shares valued at RM845.36mil. Market breadth was nearly even with 367 decliners versus 348 advancers and 341 counters unchanged.
KLCI-linked stocks seeing selling pressure included Petronas Chemicals losing 13 sen to RM8.41, Tenaga Nasional dropping 14 sen to RM13.02 and IHH sliding nine sen to RM5.51.
Axiata led gains with a six sen increase to RM3.89 while CIMB added four sen to RM5.80 and IOI grew six sen to RM4.59.
Most actively traded counters on the stock exchange were Seacera up 2.5 sen to 28.5 sen, Barakah
growing 1.5 sen to 12 sen and Sapura Energy trading unchanged at 28 sen.
Meanwhile in regional markets, the Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.7%, Japan's Nikkei surged 2.6%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.2% and South Korea's Kospi grew 0.4%.
Crude oil prices rose on Tuesday as OPEC supply cuts and US sanctions against Iran and Venezuela lent a lift although rising production in the US is expected to keep markets in check.
US crude gained 35 cents to US$52.26 a barrel and Brent crude gained 49 cents to US$62 a barrel.
On the forex market, the ringgit was slightly weaker against the US dollar at 4.0782 as investors picked safe haven assets ahead of the trade talks.
The local currency rose 0.25% against the pound sterling at 5.2460 and was little changed against the Singapore dollar at 3.0004.
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