KUALA LUMPUR: Shares of Axiata and Digi helped shore up Bursa Malaysia early Tuesday when they resumed trading after announcing a massive merger plan but the FBM KLCI still wallowed in the red on the latest development in the US-China trade wars.

At 9.10am, the KLCI was down 1.24 points or 0.08% to 1,631.56. Turnover was 288.57 million shares valued at RM123mil. There were 226 gainers, 77 losers and 156 counters unchanged.

China backtracked on substantial commitments it made during trade talks with the US, prompting President Donald Trump to impose additional tariffs on Chinese goods slated to go into effect on Friday, top US trade officials said on Monday.

The swift deterioration in negotiations between the world's two largest economies hit global financial markets as investors faced the prospect of an escalation rather than an end to a 10-month-old trade war, Reuters reported.

BAT and F&N fell 56 sen each to RM34.62 and RM34.22 in thin trade, Tenaga lost 12 sen to RM12.10 and IHH six sen lower at RM5.52.

Public Bank lost eight sen to RM22.48 and Hong Leong Bank six sen to RM19.64.

However, Axiata and Digi surged after they resumed trading. Axiata rallied 57 sen to RM4.61 and Digi 46 sen to RM4.98.

KL Kepong added 14 sen to RM24.84, Petronas Chemical 13 sen to RM8.93 and Pentamaster 12 sen to RM4.10.

Bumi Armada rose three sen to 24 sen and it was the most active with 92.43 million shares done.

A joint-venture (JV) company that is 30% owned by Bumi Armada Bhd has secured a floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) contract from India’s state-owned oil company, Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd (ONGC). The contract runs for a fixed period of nine years and is valued at about US$2.1bil (about RM8.8bil).