KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 ― Bursa Malaysia and its regional peers finished the morning session lower, tracking losses on Wall Street, with cautious investors eyeing the next US-China trade talks tomorrow.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 7.22 points to 1,632.15 from yesterday's close of 1,639.37.The benchmark index opened 3.81 points lower at 1,635.56.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 502 to 210 with 325 counters unchanged, 869 untraded and 19 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.39 billion shares worth RM981.08 million.
A dealer said investors were concerned over the ongoing US and China trade negotiations which could further pull down equities markets.
“If US President Donald Trump hikes tariffs on US$200 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25 per cent on Friday, it would lend a drastic outlook to the global market,” he added.
China reacted to the announcement by saying the tariffs would not resolve the trade tensions and was hoping to further discuss the issue.
Meanwhile, Bank Negara Malaysia’s decision to cut the overnight policy rate by 25 basis points to 3 per cent from 3.25 per cent, was viewed as pre-emptive action against a possible quicker-than-expected slowdown in the Malaysian economy, the dealer said.
Finance-related counters, however, saw a decline in share prices today.
Public Bank lost 14 sen to RM22.34, Hong Leong eased four sen to RM19.76, Maybank inched down two sen to RM8.97, while CIMB was flat at RM5.20.
Among the heavyweight counters, Petronas Chemicals and Tenaga lost 10 sen each to RM8.95 and RM12.04 respectively, IHH eased four sen to RM5.52, while Maxis was one sen higher at RM5.48.
Of the actively-traded stocks, IFCA increased 3.5 sen to 50.5 sen, KNM added half-a-sen to 18.5 sen, Econpile gained 1.5 sen to 69 sen, but Lambo slipped half-a-sen to 8.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index declined 55.74 points to 11,530.50, the FBMT 100 Index fell 56.25 points to 11,359.76 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 81.01 points to 11,750.80.
The FBM 70 depreciated 94.94 points to 14,283.49 and the FBM Ace shed 55.00 points to 4,554.49.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index inched down 9.67 points to 16,693.20, the Plantation Index erased 37.38 points to 7,148.85 and the Industrial Products & Services Index was 1.25 points weaker at 167.72. ― Bernama
