KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 — Share prices on Bursa Malaysia were lower today, weighed down by escalating trade tensions between the United States and China, softening of the ringgit and weakness in commodities.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished 5.82 points lower at 1,633.55 against Tuesday’s close of 1,639.37, with consumer product stocks driving losses.
The index opened at 1,635.56, down by 3.81 points, and hovered between 1,627.38 and 1,635.56 throughout the day.
Overall, losers outnumbered gainers 551 to 265 with 396 counters unchanged, 694 untraded and 19 others suspended.
Turnover decreased to 2.47 billion shares worth RM2.06 billion from 3.02 billion shares worth RM2.25 billion recorded yesterday.
The market has shown increased volatility after updates on the global front showed a continuous retaliation by US President Donald Trump against Chinese goods.
According to Phillip Capital Management, Asia-Pacific equities slid due to growing trade tensions between the US and China, spurring global equity markets to record one of the largest declines in recent months.
“This latest development on US-China trade tensions caused havoc overnight on US equities,” senior vice president (investment) Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan told Bernama.
Beijing’s negotiation team is set to begin talks with American negotiators in Washington on Thursday and Friday for a trade agreement.
Nazri noted that the ongoing tensions were sparked after Trump’s tweets on Sunday threatening to boost tariffs on Chinese products later this week.
Meanwhile, following the overnight policy rate cut, banking stocks were mostly higher led by RHB, which rose 13 sen to RM5.82, while AMMB added 11 sen to RM4.55 and Hong Leong was six sen higher at RM19.86.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank fell two sen to RM8.97, Public Bank declined eight sen to RM22.40, Petronas Chemicals decreased 13 sen to RM8.92 and Tenaga was 12 sen weaker at RM12.02.
Of the actively-traded stocks, Bumi Armada slipped one sen to 20.5 sen, IFCA shed half-a-sen to 46.5 sen and Ekovest eased one sen to 90 sen, but Econpile rose 1.5 sen to 69 sen.
The FBM Emas Index fell 48.22 points to 11,538.02, the FBMT 100 slipped 47.97 points to 11,368.04 and the FBM 70 slid 90.40 points to 14,288.03.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 67.28 points to 11,764.53 and the FBM Ace Index was down 51.61 points to 4,557.88.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index added 3.37 points to 16,706.24, the Plantation Index lost 20.45 points to 7,165.78 and the Industrial Products and Services Index was 1.17 points lower at 167.80.
Main Market volume fell to 1.35 billion shares valued at RM1.8 billion from 1.97 billion shares valued at RM2.02 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover decreased to 554.39 million units worth RM170.12 million versus 578.04 million units worth RM165.19 million.
Volume on the ACE Market advanced to 562.39 million shares valued at RM89.53 million against 472.65 million shares valued at RM54.17 million.
Consumer products and services accounted for 168.0 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (172.19 million), construction (275.68 million), technology (72 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (55.30 million), property (110.49 million), plantation (20.57 million), REITs (11.32 million), closed/fund (nil), energy (344.01 million), healthcare (32.04 million), telecommunications and media (53.93 million), transportation and logistics (18.27 million), and utilities (19.09 million). — Bernama
