KUALA LUMPUR (May 23): The FBM KLCI settled down 0.05 point at 1,603.69 at Bursa Malaysia's afternoon break today on bargain hunting after plunging below 1,600 amid fresh US-China trade war concerns.

At 12:30pm, the KLCI pared losses after plunging to its lowest so far today at 1,589.79. During the break, Bursa decliners overtook gainers by 460 to 122. Volume was 1.35 billion shares valued at RM1.1 billion.

"With the negative sentiment prevailing on Wall Street, we believe there may be spillover to stocks on the local front, especially in the technology sector as the Huawei ban could translate to uncertain business environment among the tech industry. In addition, foreign trade flows (which) remained negative over the past five days [are] likely to cap the key index's upside over the near term," Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd wrote in a note today.

"Nevertheless, the weakening bias in ringgit could lift trading sentiment on selected export-oriented stocks within the glove sector," Hong Leong said.

Asian shares took cue today from US equities' overnight losses on Wednesday amid renewed US-China trade war concerns. Reuters reported that Asian shares broke support and caved to a four-month low on Thursday, as concerns grew that the Sino-US trade conflict was fast morphing into a prolonged technology cold war between the world's two largest economies.

Late Wednesday, Reuters reported the US administration was considering Huawei-like sanctions on Chinese video surveillance firm Hikvision over the country's treatment of its Uighur Muslim minority, according to a person briefed on the matter.

Overnight in US stock markets, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.39%, S&P 500 declined 0.28% while Nasdaq Composite was 0.45% lower.