US markets declined overnight after the US Treasury Secretary said it's difficult to agree on a coronavirus stimulus deal before next month's election while corporate results failed to lift sentiment. Earlier, European stocks dropped on coronavirus concern after two drug trials have been halted in the US. 

On the local market, the FBM KLCI closed 1.95 points lower at 1523.25 points after recovering from an intraday low of 1516.10 points. Following the negative performance in Wall Street, the FBM KLCI could remain pressured and hover below the resistance of 1550 points. 

Among stocks to watch are: Press Metal said the impact of the 38.2% anti-dumping duties imposed by the European Commission (EC) on its two China-based subsidiaries is minimal. The duties are only on extrusion products from the subsidiaries to the EU, which only accounts about 4.6% to the group’s revenue and about 2.8% to its profit after tax in 2019; Advance Information Marketing has received a notice of conditional voluntary takeover offer from Datuk Chai Woon Chet, who intends to acquire all the shares in AIM at 13 sen each; VS Industry is buying six pieces of land with industrial buildings in Senai, Johor for RM98.8 million from AME Elite Consortium to expand its capacity as its current manufacturing capacity is already fully taken up; MAHB said more international airlines have resumed their operations at the KLIA following effective COVID-19 safety measures. It also said that passenger traffic movements at its airports across the country rose by 19% to 1.7 million in September from August, while aircraft movements increased by 9.8% to 27,010; Key Alliance Group has secured an exclusive agreement with South Korean company Wells Bio Inc, through its global distributor ITDF Co Ltd, which will allow it to supply Wells Bio's reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT PCR) test kits to Malaysia and Singapore; Handal Energy has bagged a contract to provide ad-hoc offshore crane operator services from Enquest Petroleum Production Malaysia Ltd; Nexgram, through wholly-owned unit NMED Industries Sdn Bhd (NMEDI), has acquired 65% of Arita Holdings Sdn Bhd (AHSB), which makes plastic materials for the medical equipment market, for RM19.5 million; XOX, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, XOX (Hong Kong) Limited has acquired 117,848,500 ordinary shares in Nexion Technologies Limited (Nexion), representing 16.37% of the company’s issued and paid-up share capital, for RM23 million. The acquisition would benefit XOX in increasing its capability to secure the network, addressing cybersecurity challenges, and generate new revenue streams by reselling Nexion products to XOX’s customer.