KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 13 — Bursa Malaysia was lower almost across-the-board at mid-day today in line with regional peers and dragged down by the crisis facing the Turkish lira, which has fallen sharply against the US dollar, dealers said.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 20.48 points weaker at 1,785.27 from Friday’s close of 1,805.75.
The index opened 2.10 points lower at 1,803.65 and moved between 1,785.27 and 1,804.41 throughout the morning session.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 678 to 158 with 316 unchanged, 743 untraded and 32 others suspended.
Volume stood at 1.12 billion units valued at RM954.05 million.
A dealer said trade tensions between the US and Turkey escalated over the weekend and increased volatility in the global economy.
US President Donald Trump also announced a doubling of tariffs on steel and aluminium to 50 per cent and 20 per cent respectively on Turkey last Friday.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank eased three sen to RM9.86, Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals each declined eight sen to RM24.32 and RM9.13 respectively, Tenaga fell 22 sen to RM15.56 and CIMB lost four sen to RM5.89.
Among actives, Edaran improved 21.5 sen to 67 sen, Borneo Oil was flat at six sen, while MRCB eased 1.5 sen to 85.5 sen.
Of the top losers, Nestle dropped 90 sen to RM146.90, KESM reduced 40 sen to RM17.50 and Ajinomoto shed 38 sen to RM21.68.
The FBM Emas Index lost 134.88 points to 12,635.61, the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 167.31 points lower at 12,781.57 and the FBM Ace Index slid 73.87 points to 5,475.53.
The FBMT 100 Index contracted 133.67 points to 12,413.17 and the FBM 70 fell 133.85 points to 15,454.93.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index dropped 101.74 points to 17,474.44, the Plantation Index was 61.79 points weaker at 7,651.04 and the Industrial Index slid 15.51 points to 3,253.84. — Bernama
