KUALA LUMPUR (June 3): The FBM KLCI drifted lower at mid-morning, tracking regional markets, in a holiday-shortened week with trading expected to be muted.

At 10am, the FBM KLCI was down 2.99 points to 1,647.77.

Losers led gainers by 360 to 117, while 256 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 479.33 million shares valued at RM220.36 million.

The top losers included Heineken Malaysia Bhd, British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Mesiniaga Bhd, DKSH Holdings (M) Bhd, Hengyuan Refining Company Bhd, Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd and Bursa Malaysia Bhd.

The actives included Lambo Group Bhd, Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd, Sapura Energy Bhd, Bumi Armada Bhd, Eduspec Holdings Bhd, Focus Dynamics Group Bhd and Vortex Consolidated Bhd.

The gainers included SAM Engineering & Equipment Bhd, IQ Group Bhd, Mega First Corp Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, Genting Bhd, UEM Edgenta Bhd, Matrix Concepts Holdings Bhd, Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Keluarga Bhd and Tenaga Nasional Bhd.

U.S. stock futures, Asian share markets and oil prices slipped to multi-month lows on Monday on mounting worries growing Sino-U.S. tensions and Washington's new tariff threats against Mexico could tip the global economy into a recession, according to Reuters.

The E-mini futures for S&P500 dropped 0.5% in early Asian trade to 2,738, near their March low of 2,722 while Japan's Nikkei skidded 1.1% to a four-month low, it said.

Hong Leong IB Research said in the US, the recent trade-related headlines regarding the imposition of fresh tariffs on Mexican products will pose downside pressure towards the stock markets.

“Also, market participants are concerned that the President Trump could further target other trading partners in order to strike several trade agreements, which may lead to a slowdown in economic activities in the future. The Dow’s resistance is located around 25,500.

“Tracking the negative performance on Wall Street, we opine that the profit taking activities are likely to emerge on the local front as KLCI is slightly overbought after rebounding near to 80 points over the past 3 weeks.

“The KLCI’s trading range will be located around 1,620-1,666. Meanwhile, traders may look into export-oriented stocks on the back of weaker ringgit (RM4.19/USD),” it said.