KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 1 — Bursa Malaysia gave up yesterday’s gains to close lower today in line with its regional peers amid renewed concerns over the progress of the US-China trade talk.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished 4.64 points easier at 1,593.34 on profit-taking in the index-linked counters, led by Public Bank, compared with 1,597.98 recorded at yesterday’s close.
The barometer index, which opened 2.25 points lower at 1,595.73 this morning, fluctuated in red territory between 1,583 and 1,596.84 throughout the day.
Public Bank dragged the FBM KLCI down by 3.29 points after falling 48 sen to RM19.82 with 1.54 million shares changing hands.
Optimism over a trade deal between Washington and Beijing subsided after a Bloomberg report said China was doubtful that it could have a long-term trade deal with Washington and President Donald Trump.
Phillip Capital Management senior vice-president (investment) Datuk Nazri Khan Adam Khan said as Wall Street ended lower overnight, the FBM KLCI was prone to profit-taking ahead of the weekend as conflicting tones surrounding a possible US-China trade deal eclipsed the strong quarterly earnings from the US.
He said the impact of existing tariffs was expected to continue weigh on global trade and growth in the immediate term.
“The local benchmark, however, should maintain its near-term bullish bias riding on the back of US corporate earnings and may spring a positive surprise on the upside.
“As the ongoing US-China trade war has not reached its end yet, we continue advising risk-averse investors to minimise their global-exposure due to high uncertainty risk,” he told Bernama.
The tariff war between the world’s two largest economies has annoyed financial markets for more than a year.
Back home, the negative sentiment also spilled over to the broader market as losers overwhelmed gainers 451 to 353, while 420 counters were unchanged, 737 untraded and 27 others suspended.
Volume expanded to 2.79 billion shares worth RM1.64 billion from 2.95 billion shares valued at RM2.7 billion yesterday.
Of the actives, Sumatec and Multi Sports were flat at half-a-sen and 1.5 sen respectively, Sapura Energy slipped half-a-sen to 26 sen, and Bumi Armada and Perak Transit added one sen each to 46 sen and 24 sen.
The FBM Emas Index was 25.6 points weaker at 11,280.13, the FBMT 100 Index fell 26.68 points to 11,086.4, the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 5.4 points to 11,824.38 and the FBM 70 decreased 10.34 points to 13,939.92.
However, the FBM Ace gained 6.32 points to 4,979.43.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gave up 82.28 points to 15,574.67 and the Industrial Products & Services Index slipped 0.32 point to 153.19, but the Plantation Index increased 12.95 points to 6,749.04.
Main Market volume narrowed marginally to 2.05 billion shares worth RM1.47 billion from 2.06 billion shares valued at RM2.49 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover decreased to 276.73 million units worth RM43.23 million against 372.33 million units worth RM61.56 million.
Volume on the ACE Market fell to 466.39 million units worth RM124.56 million compared with 510.64 million units valued at RM140.82 million previously.
Consumer products and services accounted for 331.17 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (225.31 million), construction (336.43 million), technology (126.08 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (32.25 million), property (155.53 million), plantations (24.27 million), REITs (18.64 million), closed/fund (41,000), energy (705.38 million), healthcare (25.14 million), telecommunications and media (34.39 million), transportation and logistics (19.78 million) and utilities (13.29 million). — Bernama
