KUALA LUMPUR (May 7): The FBM KLCI reversed its earlier loss and was up 0.39% at mid-morning today, lifted by Axiata Group Bhd and Digi.Com Bhd after the telecommunications groups said they were in talks for a possible merger of their Asia assets and infrastructure.

At 10am, the FBM KLCI was up 6.46 points to 1,639.26. The index had earlier slipped to a low of 1,626.06.

Gainers led losers by 402 to 152, while 216 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 792.80 million shares valued at RM402.39 million.

The top gainers included Nestle (M) Bhd, Axiata, United Plantations Bhd, Digi, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, Mesiniaga Bhd, Pentamaster Corp Bhd and Amway (M) Holdings Bhd.

The actives included Bumi Armada Bhd, Ekovest Bhd, Lambo Group Bhd, My EG Services Bhd and Fajarbaru Builder Group Bhd.

The decliners included British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd, PPB Group Bhd, Lingkaran Trans Kota Holdings Bhd, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd and Cycle & Carriage Bintang Bhd.

Asian shares wallowed near five-week lows on early Tuesday after US President Donald Trump's threat to raise tariffs re-ignited worries about US-China trade tensions while Japan's Nikkei opened down after a 10-day break, according to Reuters.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped as much as 0.2% to five-week low marked on Monday, it said.

Hong Leong IB Research said despite the Dow managing to recover most of the losses in the recent session, statements from Trump regarding the imposition of higher tariffs has damaged the overall market sentiment.

"Hence, should there be any negative progress in the upcoming trade discussion in the US, [it] is likely to further dampen the stock markets. The Dow's resistance is located around 26,500-26,952.

"We believe renewed concerns on the trade front would persist and dampen the stock markets moving forward [even though] the earlier trade discussions between the US [and] China were seen as positive in the previous weeks.

"Also, with Brent crude oil prices sliding briefly below the US$70 level (but staged a rebound towards the closing), we may expect weaker trading activities on O&G (oil and gas) counters. Nevertheless, the strong rebound on Wall Street could spill over towards KLCI, but the FBM KLCI's upside will be capped along 1,658-1,666," it said.