KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 2 — Bursa Malaysia halted its eight-day winning streak to close lower today on selling pressure in line with the weaker regional peers due to the escalating US-China trade tensions, dealers said.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 10.18 points lower at 1,778.13 from Wednesday’s close of 1,788.31.

At 9.09am, the index was 1.48 points higher at 1,789.79.

On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers by 658 to 246, with 408 counters unchanged, 564 untraded and 30 others suspended.

Volume decreased to 2.09 billion units worth RM1.98 billion, from Wednesday’s 2.32 billion units worth RM2.05 billion.

Earlier in the morning today, Bursa Malaysia encountered a technical glitch which caused disruption in certain indices including the benchmark FBM KLCI opening data.

Selling activities were seen across-the-board. Topping the losers list was Nestle which lost 40 sen to RM146.90, United Plantations eased 32 sen to RM26.80 and HLFG fell 28 sen to RM17.80.

Hermana Capital Bhd Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan said news that the US planned to impose a higher tariff of 25 per cent from 10 per cent on US$200 billion worth of Chinese imports dragged down sentiment.

“However, this as an overbought correction as there is no serious foreign fund selling. Eventually, the situation will stabilise again,” he told Bernama today.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank fell one sen to RM9.84, Public Bank and Tenaga shed two sen each to RM24.18 and RM15.28, respectively, while Petronas Chemicals and CIMB were flat at RM9.01 and RM5.85.

Among actives, PWorth and Sumatec was flat at 7.5 sen and four sen, respectively, MYEG dipped four sen to RM1.17 and Sapura Energy eased one sen to 59 sen.

 The FBM Emas Index was 84.45 points lower at 12,581.75, the FBMT 100 Index reduced 81.17 points to 12,371.67 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index slid 116.14 points to 12,715.90.

The FBM 70 fell 139.75 points to 15,433.78 and the FBM Ace Index was down 30.90 points to 5,414.77.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index decreased 67.94 points to 7,561.82, the Industrial Index was 31.37 points lower at 3,260.57 and the Finance Index declined 42.71 points to 17,454.85.

Main Market volume decreased to 1.28 billion shares valued at RM1.79 billion, from 1.38 billion shares worth RM1.81 billion recorded on Wednesday.

Warrants turnover was higher at 486.83 million units worth RM128.93 million, versus Wednesday’s 448.63 million units valued at RM114.16 million.

Volume on the ACE Market fell to 315.51 million shares valued at RM63.35 million, from 490.07 million shares worth RM127.30 million transacted yesterday.

Consumer products accounted for 56.83 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (267.08 million), construction (89.79 million), trade and services (531.82 million), technology (72.50 million), infrastructure (19.19 million), SPAC (231,400), finance (44.46 million), hotels (748,600), properties (176.31 million), plantations (21.30 million), mining (78,000), REITs (7.27 million), and closed/fund (47,000). — Bernama