KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 13 ― Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session in the red across the board, after dipping below the key support level of 1,600 points, and shedding 22.27 points to end at 1592.78.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) opened 0.20 of a point easier at 1,6134.85 and fluctuated between 1615.24 and 1591.29 during the morning trading session, which was mainly dragged down financial services index counters in contracting 225.00 points to 15,616.99.

According to analysts, the drop was due to global economic uncertainties, the prolonged US-China trade war, the review by FTSE Russell of Malaysia’s government bond position in the World Government Bond Index next month, as well as further possible rate cuts by key central banks.

On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 663 to 122, while 251 counters were unchanged, 870 untraded and 18 others suspended.

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Turnover amounted to 1.12 billion shares worth RM714.659 million.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the drop was also in line with other global peers, with the US expected to implement extra tariffs on China’s goods early next month.

“Due to this scenario, an uptick among lower liners and broader market shares may stall, after the latest round of weakness on global markets. Volatility is likely to return, but the downside risks could be measured,” it said.

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The Dow Jones was 389.73 points lower at 25,897.71, the Singapore Straits Times Index was 25.63 points lower at 3,143.31, with Japan's Nikkei 248.69 points lower at 20,436.13, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng sliding 479.07 points to 25,345.65.

The top heavyweight losers were Public Bank which shed 88 sen to RM20.64, Maybank losing five sen to RM8.55, as Nestle shed 50 sen to RM147.50 and Tenaga Nasional down 16 sen to RM13.66. Petronas Chemical declined 26 sen to RM7.13.

Of the active stocks, Ta Win weakend two sen to 14.5 sen, Genting Malaysia lost 11 sen to RM3.11, Berjaya, KNM and Iris slid half a sen each to 25.5 sen, 38.5 sen and 15.5 sen respectively

The FBM Emas Index felll 148.93 points to 11,291 the FBMT 100 Index lost 145.35 points to 11,127 and the FBM Ace shed 85.49 points to 4,612.15.   

The FBM 70 lost 142.79 points to 14,161.58 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index contracted 122.91 points to 11,803.66.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index dipped 41.56 points to 6,685.85 and the Industrial Products and Services Index lost 2.96 point to 149.68. ― Bernama