KUALA LUMPUR (June 25): The FBM KLCI continued to stay sluggish today with the benchmark index finishing at 1,675.86 points, down 2.24 points or 0.13% from yesterday's close, as investors remained concerned about the trade row between the US and China.  

The KLCI traded within a range of 1,673.26 and 1,681.54 throughout the day, with decliners leading gainers with 547 counters to 264. Trading volume decreased to 1.88 billion shares worth RM1.93 billion compared with yesterday's 2.04 billion shares worth RM1.97 billion.

Gainers were led by Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, Nestle (M) Bhd and British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, while decliners were led by Ajinomoto (M) Bhd, Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd and Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd.

Inter-Pacific Securities Sdn Bhd head of research Pong Teng Siew opined that a spell of steep drops in recent weeks has encouraged some bargain hunting but any uptick in the short-term “might not last”.

“Perhaps the Southeast Asian market is in the midst of a technical rebound. But you can get the feeling that it might not last...[Concerns over trade wars] is still very much in the minds of the investors,” Pong told theedgemarkets.com.

Across Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.02%, South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.3% while the Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.28%.

Reuters reported that Southeast Asian stock markets fell on Tuesday as escalating trade tensions between the United States and other major economies prompted investors to reduce exposure to riskier assets, causing a global equity rout.

In the currency market, the ringgit weakened further against the US dollar, hitting a six-month low of 4.0245 during the day before paring some gains at 4.0210 at press time.