KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI shed 5.46 points in the morning session to 1,645.74 as as Asian markets retreated on US President Donald Trump's hard line on trade negotiations with China.
The president said he had "no interest" in a trade deal with Beijing unless China reversed its stance on several demands.
The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.6% while the blue chip CSI300 Index dropped 0.8%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index plunged 1.6%, South Korea's Kospi Index shed 0.3% and Japan's Nikkei Index was 0.1% lower.
At the close of the first trading session at 12.30pm, Bursa Malaysia saw 1.07 billion shares exchanging hands to the tune of RM761.12mil. There were 378 decliners versus 254 advancers and 359 counters unchanged.
The most actively traded counter was HPMT, which was sold down on its debut on the Main Market of the stock exchange.
The manufacturer of cutting tools plunged 6.5 sen or 11.6% from its offer price of 56 sen in early morning trade before recouping some losses to end the morning five sen lower at 51 sen.
Macpie was also on investors' radar screens, rising 3.5 sen to 21.5 sen, while Ekovest pulled 1.5 sen higher to 84.5 sen.
Among the heavyweights, Tenaga Nasional slipped 10 sen to RM12.38, Petronas Chemicals dropped six sen to RM8.31 and Maxis slipped five sen to RM5.54.
Some guarded gains were seen in IHH rising two sen to RM5.62, MISC adding two sen to RM7.18 and PPB advancing two sen to RM18.70.
Oil prices were sent tumbling as the US Energy Information Administration cut its 2019 forecast for oil demand growth. In the same report, it also cut its predictions for US oil production.
US crude fell 88 cents to US$52.39 a barrel and Brent crude dropped 96 cents to US$61.33 a barrel.
IN currencies, the ringgit was trading flat against the greenback at 4.1645, 0.1% lower against the pound sterling at 5.2975 and flat against the Singapore dollar at 3.0512.
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