KUALA LUMPUR, March 2 — Bursa Malaysia finished the week lower today, tracking the extended global sell-off as trade war worries emerged following US President’s hefty steel and aluminum import tariff decision.

Affin Hwang Investment Bank Vice-President/Head of Retail Research Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan said investor sentiment had already been clouded by the recent US Federal Reserve Chair’s hawkish monetary policy that hinted for a faster pace of interest rate increase.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) closed 4.79 points or 0.26 per cent lower at 1,856.07 from Thursday’s close of 1,860.86.

The benchmark index opened 3.05 points easier at 1,857.81 and moved between 1,854.25 and 1,860.64 throughout the day.

Market breadth was negative as losers led gainers 656 to 291 with 411 counters unchanged, 501 untraded and 20 others suspended.

Volume fell to 2.55 billion units worth RM2.41 billion against 3.39 billion units worth RM2.51 billion yesterday.

Nazri Khan said US President Donald Trump’s plan to impose tariffs of 25 per cent on steel and 10 per cent on aluminium imports had triggered trade war worries involving countries like China and European countries.

"Investors believed the move would have a spillover effect on emerging markets like Malaysia and turn away from the equity market,” he told Bernama.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei dipped  542.83 points or 2.5 per cent to 21,181.64, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng erased  485.37 points or 1.56 per cent to 30,558.88 and the Shanghai Composite Index eased 19.23 points or 0.59 per cent to 3,254.53.    

Among heavyweights, Press Metal was the top loser, declining 32 sen to RM5.47 following Trump’s steel and aluminium import tarriff hike announcement on Thursday.

Axiata and Maxis gave up nine sen each to RM5.33 and RM5.81, respectively, Genting Malaysia erased 11 sen to RM5.20 and Genting was 12 sen lower at RM9.00.

Among the active counters, HB Global reduced 2.5 sen to 25.5 sen, Sapura Energy slid two sen to 62.5 sen, Daya Materials and Asia Poly gained half-a-sen each to 4.5 sen and 12.5 sen, respectively, while DBE Gurney was flat at 3.5 sen.

Of losers, Heng Yuan fell 62 sen to RM12.18, United Plantations lost 38 sen to RM28.30, Genting Plantations trimmed 34 sen to RM9.88, KESM declined 30 sen to RM20.10 and Annjoo fell 25 sen to RM3.44.

The FBM Emas Index dropped 63.30 points to 13,173.95, the FBMT 100 Index was 58.31 points weaker at 12,892.74 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index shed 60.37 points to 13,372.35.

The FBM 70 dipped 157.23 points to 15,978.48 and the FBM Ace edged down 9.48 points to 6,154.67.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Index eased 14.76 points to 3,215.45, the Plantation Index dropped 3.97 points to 8,079.99, while the Finance Index rose 4.97 points to 18,228.07.

The Main Market volume decreased to 1.67 billion units worth RM2.27 billion from 2.22 billion units worth RM2.34 billion on Thursday.

Volume on the ACE Market was lower at 506.19 million shares valued at RM81.95 million against 672.33 million shares valued at RM88.52 million yesterday.

Warrants' volume fell to 373.62 million units worth RM65.08 million from Thursday's 494.96 million units worth RM77.90 million.

Consumer products accounted for 368.15 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (311.20 million), construction (60.31 million), trade and services (628.44 million), technology (82.30 million),  infrastructure (10.94 million), SPAC (677,100), finance (58.58 million), hotels (532,000), properties (119.48 million), plantations (19.28 million), mining (578,800), REITs (6.12 million), and closed/fund (26,700). — Bernama