KUALA LUMPUR (May 29): The FBM KLCI pared some of its loss at mid-morning today, and was poised to end the day having notched month-on-month gain in May.

At 10am, the FBM KLCI was down 3.65 points to 1,453.85. The index had earlier slipped to a low of 1,448.84.

Gainers edged losers by 349 to 339, while 326 counters traded unchanged. Trading volume was 2.04 billion shares valued at RM1.18 billion.

The top losers included Panasonic Manufacturing Malaysia Bhd, Nestle (M) Bhd, Heineken Malaysia Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, Petronas Gas Bhd, Genting Plantations Bhd, United Plantations Bhd, Ornapaper Bhd and Public Bank Bhd.

The actives included Eduspec Holdings Bhd, XOX Bhd, Careplus Group Bhd, Key Alliance Group Bhd, Sanichi Technology Bhd, Hubline Bhd, Gadang Holdings Bhd, KNM Group Bhd and Adventa Bhd.

The gainers included Supermax Corp Bhd, Rubberex Corp Bhd, Mega First Corp Bhd, Power Root Bhd, Top Glove Corp Bhd, Adventa Bhd, Hengyuan Refining Company Bhd and Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd.

Bloomberg said Asian stocks opened modestly lower after a rally in US equities fizzled on fresh US-China tensions. The dollar held losses.

Sentiment is being tested as global equities round out a second month of gains, with US President Donald Trump saying he would announce new US steps on China today, after it passed a national security law curbing freedoms in Hong Kong. Japanese shares dipped modestly along with those in Seoul and Sydney. US contracts slid after the gauge gave up a gain of more than 1%, with the announcement stoking concern Sino-American tensions will disrupt the economic reopening narrative that has propelled markets. Treasuries were steady, it said.

Hong Leong IB Research said on the back of a sharp reversal on Wall Street overnight ahead of Trump's upcoming news conference on US-China relations tonight, Bursa Malaysia is likely to trend sideways today with key resistance at the 1460-1480 gap on March 9.

"Following the elevated surge in global demand for gloves amid the Covid-19 pandemic, we expect the demand for chemical products and solutions are likely to increase in tandem with the rubber glove makers due to unprecedented surge in demand.

"Hence, chemical players could see higher trading interests, catching up with the superb rally by the gloves stocks," it said.