KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 29): The FBM KLCI fell 0.45% in early trade this morning, in line with the decline at regional markets, dragged by select blue chips.

At 9.05am, the FBM KLCI fell 7.59 points to 1,689.91.

The top decliners included Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd, MISC Bhd, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd, Petronas Gas Bhd, Public Bank Bhd, Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd, Sime Darby Plantation Bhd and IOI Corp Bhd.

Asian stocks declined Tuesday after their U.S. counterparts retreated on concerns the trade war with China is hitting corporate profits, according to Bloomberg.

Shares posted modest losses across the region, with technology stocks underperforming after a reminder that U.S.-China tensions are deep seated: American prosecutors filed criminal charges against Huawei Technologies Co., China’s largest smartphone maker. U.S. futures slipped. Earlier, the main U.S. benchmarks fell after Caterpillar and Nvidia blamed slowing global growth for disappointing results, halting a three-day rally for the S&P 500 Index. Treasuries edged higher while the dollar was little changed, it said.

Kenanga IB Research said Asia markets closed mostly lower as investors are cautious ahead of the crucial U.S.-China trade talk this week.

It said back-home, the FBMKLCI slipped 3.53 points (-0.21%) to close at 1,697.50.

“We maintain our neutral outlook on the index as the index is above the 20 and 50-day SMAs but the stochastic indicator is in the overbought zone.

“Should the trade talk turn out favorable, continuous positive momentum may see it trend higher to resistance levels at 1,730 (R1) and 1,800 (R2) possibly.

“Conversely, support levels can be identified at 1,650 (S1) and 1,600 (S2) further down,” it said.