KUALA LUMPUR (July 5): The FBM KLCI edged up marginally this morning against the backgroup of nervous regional markets.

At 9,05am, the FBM KLCI was up 1.02 points to 1,689.47.

The early gainers included Telekom Malaysia Bhd, Scientex Bhd, NCT Bhd, IHH Healthcare Bhd, Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd, Top Glove Corp Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd and Apex Equity Holdings Bhd.

Asian stocks got off to a cautious start on Thursday as investors remained nervous amid a looming deadline for Washington's proposed tariffs on Chinese imports, leaving financial markets in a state of anxious uncertainty, according to Reuters.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.03 percent after declining 0.4 percent the previous day, it said.

Hong Leong IB Research in a traders’ brief said in the US, traders are likely to maintain its cautious trading tone amid the prolong trade spats episode.

“Nevertheless, we believe that the recent trade development could have priced into the stock markets and remain cautiously optimistic on the overall market sentiment that the oversold Dow could be due for a technical rebound over the near term

“On the local front, we think the recovery in broader market is likely to sustain as most of the oversold sectors are showing signs of rebound.

“Also, we have noticed milder foreign outflows over the past two trading days, which is a healthy sign for supporting the recovering trend,” it said.