KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 14 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session lower, tracking the performance of regional markets following the weak Chinese data, amid the prolonged US-China trade war.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KCLI (FBM KLCI) fell 2.63 points to 1,594.59 from 1,597.22 while moving between 1,594.14 to 1,598.09.
It opened 1.82 points weaker at 1,595.40.
On the broader market, losers beat gainers 341 to 273, with 392 counters unchanged, 995 untraded and 19 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.12 billion shares worth RM690.77 million.
China’s industrial production data, which was released yesterday, missed the earlier expectation of 5.4 per cent growth. Instead, it posted a 4.7 per cent growth year-on-year.
Meanwhile, worries over the Hong Kong anti-government protests turning violent have also influenced investor sentiment.
Hong Kong Hang Seng declined 245.22 points or 0.92 per cent to 26,326.24.
As for other regional markets, Japan Nikkei lost 197.36 points or 0.85 per cent to 23,122.51 and Singapore Straits Times Index fell 9.35 points or 0.29 per cent to 3,229.87.
“On top of that, (US President Donald) Trump’s no update on the US-China trade war has prolonged cautious sentiment among investors,” a dealer said.
However, Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, yesterday, gave a positive indication that the US economy is recovering, hence, sees interest rates change unlikely.
Back home, he said investors patiently await Bank Negara’s third quarter (Q3) results, scheduled for tomorrow.
The Standard Chartered Global Research estimated Malaysia’s Q3 gross domestic product’s (GDP) growth to ease to 4.4 per cent from 6.2 per cent in the same quarter last year due to a high base effect.
Among heavyweights, Maybank rose three sen to RM8.68, Tenaga and Public Bank fell six sen each to RM13.72 and RM19.90, respectively, while Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM7.38.
Of the actives, Sapura Energy and Netx were flat at 29 sen and two sen, respectively, while Spring Art up two sen to 25 sen and IFCA was three sen higher at 52 sen.
The FBM Emas Index slipped 12.02 points to 11,320.33, the FBMT 100 Index fell 13.43 points to 11,132.84 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 24.91 points to 11,855.97.
The FBM Ace added 12.94 points to 4,869.15 and the FBM 70 was 3.24 points better at 14,137.93.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index contracted 11.31 points to 15,588.63, the Industrial Products & Services Index inched down 0.38 of-a-point to 152.43 and the Plantation Index slipped 3.87 points to 6,918.36. — Bernama
