KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips started Tuesday on a cautious footing, tracking the key Asian markets on worries about the escalating violent protest in Hong Kong and where the US-China trade talks are heading.
At 9.48am, the FBM KLCI was up just 0.45 of a point or 0.03% to 1,608.60. Turnover was 526.08 million shares valued at RM210.11mil. There were 289 gainers, 189 losers and 253 counters unchanged.
Asian share markets got off to a sluggish start amid uncertainty over both the US-China trade talks and the domestic political situation in Hong Kong, Reuters reported.
MSCI 's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.05%, following a sharp 1.2% pullback on Monday.
Japan's Nikkei dithered either side of flat, while South Korean stocks inched up 0.3%. E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 was off 0.1% in quiet trade.
Caution ruled ahead of a speech by US President Donald Trump to the Economic Club of New York later in the day in case there was any new word on the Phase one US-China trade deal.
At Bursa, foreign funds were net sellers on Monday at -RM129.30mil while local institutions were net buyers at RM110mil and local retail investors at RM18.30mil.
Nestle rose RM1 to RM145.90 while F&N gained 20 sen to RM35.20 and Ajinomoto 20 sen to RM15.98. Carlsberg lost 14 sen to RM28.14.
CCB jumped 38 sen to RM1.67 after its major shareholder offer to take it private at RM2.20 a share.
Guan Chong WB surged 33 sen to RM1.05 in active trade. HLFG and Panasonic added 30 sen each to RM17.40 and RM37.90 in thin trade.
KL Kepong rebounded 28 sen to RM22.48 and PPB Group 10 sen to RM18.20, riding on the strong crude palm oil prices.
SAPURA ENERGY rose 0.5 sen to 29.5 sen with 86.2 million shares done while Bumi Armada added two sen to 50 sen with 44 million units traded.
Air Asia X rose one sen to 17.5 sen with 24.25 million shares done.
However, MAHB fell 15 sen to RM5.20, HL Bank 14 sen to RM17.06, Kossan and IHH five sen each to RM4.18 and RM5.39.

Sumber : thestar.com.my