KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26 — Bursa Malaysia continued to trade lower at mid-morning today amid escalating trade tension between US and China.
At 11am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 16.41 points lower at 1,592.92 compared with yesterday’s close of 1,609.33.
It opened 11.05 points lower at 1,598.28.
On the broader market, losers surpassed gainers 614 to 115, while 232 counters remained unchanged, 1005 untraded and 14 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 982.56 million units worth RM608.2 million.
A dealer said the trade tensions between the US and China reached a new height after President Donald Trump demanded American companies seek “an alternative” to China in response to Beijing’s latest volley of retaliatory tariffs.
Trump’s comment he said, came after Beijing stated it would apply additional levies of between five and 10 per cent on US$75 billion (RM314 billion) of US imports from September, marking the latest escalation in the tit-for-tat trade war between the two countries.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank lost eight sen to RM8.56, Public Bank fell 12 sen to RM20.70, TNB shed 20 sen to RM13.56 and Petronas Chemicals eased 14 sen to RM7.08.
IHH added four sen to RM5.72.
On the actives, Ekovest slipped half-a-sen to 84 sen, DRB dwindled 29 sen to RM2.66, Sapura Energy slipped one sen to 26.5 sen and KNM lost 1.5 sen to 35 sen.
IWC added one sen to 96 sen.
On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index shed 128.471 points to 11,257.68, the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 153.54 points to 11,770.65 and the FBMT 100 Index was 126.17 points lower at 11,093.16.
The FBM Ace eased 22.18 points to 4,531.45 and the FBM 70 fell 208.21 points to 13,972.25.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index weakened 137.53 points to 15,517.8, the Plantation Index contracted 78.16 points to 6,763.53 and the Industrial Products and Services Index was 2.15 point lower at 148.42. — Bernama
