KUALA LUMPUR, March 7 — Bursa Malaysia closed lower today on weak buying sentiment and renewed fears of a trade war led by the US, following the resignation of a key free trade advocate at the White House.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) closed 10.47 points lower at 1,837.90 from 1,848.37 at yesterday’s close.

After opening 1.35 points lower at 1,847.02 this morning, the index moved between 1,834.66 and 1,848.85 throughout the day.

A dealer said global markets became jittery after White House Economic Adviser, Gary Cohn, resigned and this, in turn, caused global stock markets to decline.

"His resignation further increases the market’s fear that US President Donald Trump would go ahead with tariffs and risk a trade war,’ he added.

Market breadth was negative with losers led gainers by 991 to 163 with 297 counters unchanged, 423 untraded and 21 others suspended.

Volume rose to 3.1 billion units worth RM3.17 billion from 2.76 billion units worth RM2.77 billion today.

Among heavyweights, Maybank eased two sen to RM10.48, Public Bank fell six sen to RM22.94, Tenaga declined four sen to RM15.60 and CIMB was five sen weaker at RM7.15.

Of the active counters, Sapura Energy decreased 4.5 sen to 51 sen, Sino Hua-An was five sen weaker at 42 sen and Sumated lost half-a-sen to 6.5 sen.

The FBM Emas Index decreased 140.33 points to 12,930.47, FBMT 100 Index was 125.61 points lower at 12,674.19 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 175.01 points to 13,084.93.

The FBM 70 fell 335.32 points to 15,393.79 and the FBM Ace edged down 178.34 points to 5,865.04.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Index fell 30.58 points to 3,171.95, Plantation Index lost 75.12 points to 8,014.64 and the Finance Index was 123.95 points weaker at 18,000.63.

The Main Market volume increased to 1.99 billion units worth RM2.99 billion from 1.8 billion units worth RM2.62 billion yesterday.

Volume on the ACE Market decreased to 500.5 million shares valued at RM75.07 million from 525.27 million shares valued at RM85.22 million on Monday.

Warrants’ volume rose to 607.14 million units worth RM100.2 million from 425.26 million units worth RM71.28 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 159.72 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (560.32 million), construction (79.75 million), trade and services (841.49 million), technology (72.173 million), infrastructure (5.9 million), SPAC (1.11 million), finance (94.12 million), hotels (1.38 million), properties (136.37 million), plantations (31.56 million), mining (337,300), REITs (12.51 million), and closed/fund (5,600). — Bernama