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.Oil markets stabilised on Monday after slumping around 2% last Friday on the back of concerns of an intensifying trade dispute between the United States and China, as well as increased US drilling activity.US WTI crude futures were at US$62.17 a barrel at 0019 GMT, up 11 cents, or 0.2%, from their previous settlement. Brent crude futures were at US$67.23 per barrel, up 12 cents, or 0.2%.KESM fell 30 sen to RM14.60, BAT 24 sen to RM23.50 and Daibochi eight sen lower at RM2.21.Nestle was the top gainer, 50 sen higher at RM149.50 and F&N gained 32 sen to RM32.92.Hengyuan rose 35 sen to RM8.70, Petronas Dagangan gained 22 sen to RM24.88, Petron 18 sen to RM8.60 while Petronas Gas gained 10 sen to RM18.08.Press Metal rose 17 sen to RM4.02, LPI 16 sen to RM16.50, Tan Chong and Favelle Favco 13 sen to RM2.54.

Source: The Star April 09, 2018 01:52 UTC