KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 15 — Bursa Malaysia continued to stay in the red across the board in tracking the world’s major indices at mid-day, and with heavy selling pressure in the industrial products and services index, as well as a majority of heavyweight stocks.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slid 11.35 points to 1,588.96 at lunch break, and opened this morning 15.40 points lower at 1,584.91.
On the broader market, gainers outstripped losers 666 to 101, while 268 counters were unchanged, 898 untraded and 17 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.10 billion shares worth RM833.95 million.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average recorded the steepest drop of 800.49 points to 25,479.42, while the Nasdaq slipped 242.42 points to 7,773.94, Japan’s Nikkei fell 288.80 points to 20,366.33 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index dropped 47.29 points to 3,100.31 points.
Oanda Asia Pacific senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley said the drastic drop on US stock markets sent shivers through global stocks and weak Chinese and European data highlighted that both economies are slowing, exacerbated by the ongoing US and China trade war.
“The now drawn out US-China trade war has sapped investor confidence. It is now threatening to turn what would have been an orderly and gentle slowdown, after ten years of uninterrupted growth, into something potentially much more aggressive,” he told Bernama.
Economic reports also suggest that the US stock markets slump — the worst for the year on Wednesday — was a reliable predictor of looming recession flashing for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis.
Among the top losers on Bursa were Hong Leong-related companies, namely Hong Leong Bank which shed 34 sen to RM17.08, Hong Leong Industries losing 32 sen to RM10.62 and Hong Leong Financial, sliding 30 sen to RM16.96.
Aeon Credit fell 34 sen to RM15.86 and Tenaga Nasional dropped 10 sen to RM13.52.
Of the active stocks, Metronic and MNC Wireless fell half-a-sen to 5.5 sen and 7.5 sen respectively, Bumi Armada shed 1.5 sen to 21 sen, Genting Malaysia slid five sen to RM3.06 as Heitech Padu eased four sen to RM1.29.
The FBM Emas Index decreased 93.76 points to 11,242.22, the FBMT 100 lost 89.72 points to 11,081.24 and the FBM Ace slid 69.51 points to 4,572.35.
The FBM 70 declined 175.22 points to 14,021.98 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index weakened 102.84 points to 11,738.98.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was 65.57 points weaker at 6,656.43 and the Industrial Products and Services Index was down by 2.16 points to 148.99. — Bernama
