KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 14): The FBM KLCI fell in early trade against the backdrop of wobbly regional markets.

At 9.05am, the FBM KLCI fell 7.21 points to 1,668.79.

The decliners included Nestle (M) Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, IHH Healthcare Bhd, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd, Hong Leong Bank Bhd, Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd, Public Bank Bhd and Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd.

Asian shares were on the defensive on Friday as investors kept a wary eye on economic tensions between Washington and Beijing while the euro was steady after the European Central Bank halted new bond purchases as expected, according to Reuters.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.3 percent while Japan's Nikkei dropped 0.4 percent, it said.

Hong Leong IB Research in a traders’ brief said in the US, following the neutral headlines on trade war, investors will be closely watching the outcome of the interest rate outlook by the Fed next week.

“In the meantime, energy shares should be in focus with the rising oil prices following the falling stock spikes in Oklahoma. Hence, we believe the Dow should be trending sideways (resistance: 25,091, support: 24,095) over the near term.

“On the local front, we opine that the technical rebound could extend higher without any negative news headlines related to trade disputes.

“Also, with the recovering Brent oil prices above US$60, we should be able to expect increase trading activities in oil and gas sector at least for the near term. However, we remain cautious on the market environment and we believe the KLCI’s upside might be capped along 1,700,” it said.