KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 5 — Bursa Malaysia remained in the red at mid-day today in line with its regional peers as the market braced for a fresh round of the trade war between the US and China.
At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 0.82 per cent or 13.33 points to 1,613.43, after fluctuating between 1,611.83 and 1,621.68 throughout the morning session.
The FBM KLCI opened 5.64 points weaker at 1,621.12.
On Bursa Malaysia, overall market breadth remained negative as losers outmuscled gainers 757 to 108, while 264 counters were unchanged, 758 untraded and 18 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.46 billion shares worth RM761.09 million.
Regionally, the Singapore’s Straits Times Index eased 1.84 per cent to 3,201.24, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 2.89 per cent to 26,140.72 and Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index shed 2.30 per cent to 20,602.41.
Rakutan Trade said equity markets would remain volatile in view of the ongoing trade spat between China and the US.
Following US president Donald Trump’s imposition of more tariffs, China has warned of a possible retaliation of the same.
“However, we believe investors would become more accustomed to the situation moving forward, and hence, equity markets will find an equilibrium and stability. Buy on weakness with the focus on index-linked counters, namely banks, which have been sold down of late,” said Rakuten Trade in a note today.
Of the heavyweights on Bursa Malaysia, Maybank declined four sen to RM8.61, Public Bank slipped 28 sen to RM21.50, TNB shed six sen to RM13.80, Petronas Chemicals decreased 13 sen to RM7.30, while IHH Healthcare and CIMB went down two sen each to RM5.71 and RM5.06 respectively.
Of the active stocks, Netx was flat at 1.5 sen, KNM fell two sen to 37.5 sen, while Ekovest, Sapura Energy and Bumi Armada all edged down half-a-sen to 83 sen, 28.5 sen and 21.5 sen respectively.
The FBM Emas Index slipped 109.9 points to 11,406.89, the FBMT 100 Index contracted 103.45 points to 11,241.55 and the FBM Ace declined 76.99 points to 4,612.35.
The FBM 70 was down 173.91 points to 14,182.31 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index gave up 106.80 points to 11,819.72.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index weakened 116.33 points to 15,848.54, the Plantation Index shaved off 67.39 points to 6,621.78 and the Industrial Products and Services Index declined 2.04 points to 152.18. — Bernama
