KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 12): The FBM KLCI today closed 1.15 points or 0.07% lower as investors stayed cautious amid a new round of China-US trade talks.

At 5pm, the KLCI closed at 1,687.41. The index, which was mainly in the red today, cut losses after falling to its intraday low at 1,683.73.

“The bigger caps (bigger market capitalisation stocks) and major shares will still depend on external issues, and now with another round of negotiations between the US and China, investors are still in a cautious sentiment,” Areca Capital Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Danny Wong Teck Meng told theedgemarkets.com.

The KLCI cut losses after equity indices across Asia closed higher with US stock futures. Japan's Nikkei 225 climbed 2.61% while South Korea's Kospi rose 0.45%. In China, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.1% while the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite increased 0.68%.

It was reported that S&P 500 e-mini futures were up nearly 0.5 percent. Reuters reported that Asian shares gained on Tuesday as investors hoped a new round of US-China trade talks would help to resolve a dispute that has dented global growth and some corporate earnings. It was reported that US and Chinese officials expressed hopes the new round of talks, which began in Beijing on Monday, would bring them closer to easing their months-long trade war.

It was reported that Beijing and Washington are trying to hammer out a deal before a March 1 deadline, without which US tariffs on US$200 billion worth of Chinese imports are scheduled to increase to 25 percent from 10 percent.