KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips fell in early Tuesday trade in the absence of strong leads despite the firmer overnight close on Wall Street.

At 9.12am, the FBM KLCI was down 1.29 points or 0.08% to 1,654.18. Turnover was 170.39 million shares valued at RM91.43mil. There were 149 gainers, 75 losers and 213 counters unchanged.

Asian stocks made modest gains after the Trump administration shelved plans for tariffs against Mexico, lifting Wall Street, however, fresh US trade threats against China are expected to limit any major investor sentiment boost, Reuters reported.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.2%. Australian stocks rose 0.9%, South Korea's Kospi added 0.15% and Japan's Nikkei edged up 0.05%.

CIMB Retail Research said the KLCI was likely to test the 1,657 high on Tuesday as the near-term sentiment seems to be improving given speculation on a US Fed rate cut as well as the possible conciliatory agreement between US and China during the G20 summit at the end of June.

“If the KLCI index goes up and takes out the 1,657 high, then the index may face a critical resistance level at the 1,670-1,680 zones. However, we think that cautious sentiments may still prevail given the uncertainties over the external and internal headwinds. Failure to breakout above 1,657 may send the index into a consolidation phase.

“The 30-day and 50-day EMAs would serve as the next immediate support. There is no change to our long-term bearish view on the index given that the final phase of KLCI’s 126-month cycle is still in progress, where selling pressure is likely to be at its strongest. The lower lows and lower highs formation is still intact,” it said.

UMW fell the most, down 22 sen to RM5.27 with 200 shares done.

Among the KLCI stocks, PPB Group fell 14 sen to RM18.70, Petronas Gas 12 sen to RM17.80, Public Bank and Petronas Dagangan eight sen each to RM23.42 and RM25.42 while RHB Bank lost five sen to 76 sen.

Hong Leong Bank added 16 sen to RM19.38 and CIMB four sen to RM5.32.

Heitech Padu climbed 5.5 sen to 94.5 sen in active trade.

Ekovest rose one sen to 86 sen with 24.23 million shares done and IWCity three sen to 97 sen.