KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 3 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session lower today in line with most of the regional markets following emerging concerns over the bearish global economic outlook, dealers said.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KCLI (FBM KLCI) declined 8.04 points or 0.51 per cent to 1,562.51 from Monday’s close of 1,570.55, after moving between 1,560.02 and 1,568.85 during the session.
It opened 1.70 points lower at 1,568.85.
On the broader market, there were 484 losers and 236 gainers, with 318 counters unchanged, 927 untraded and 19 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.07 billion shares worth RM732.99 million.
A dealer said Asian stock markets traded lower in the early session today, driven by emerging concerns on negative trade developments as the United States (US) President Donald Trump said he will be reinstating tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Brazil and Argentina.
On Monday, Trump tweeted that “Brazil and Argentina have been presiding over a massive devaluation of their currencies, which is not good for our farmers. Therefore, effective immediately, I will restore the tariffs on all steel and aluminum that is shipped into the US from those countries.”
Meanwhile, at the end of the morning trading session, heavyweight Maybank was flat at RM8.51, Public Bank slipped one sen to RM19.46, TNB and Petronas Chemicals fell six sen each to RM13.02 and 7.04, respectively, while CIMB went down two sen to RM5.17.
Of the actives, Khee San rose 5.5 sen to 36 sen, Solarvest earned half-a-sen to 87.5 sen, JAKS Resources added four sen to RM1.25 while Yong Tai eased half-a-sen to 19.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index shed 55.73 points to 11,080.54, the FBMT 100 Index dipped 55.20 points to 10,894.40, the FBM Emas Shariah Index contracted 56.24 points to 11,606.10, the FBM Ace reduced 21.35 points to 4,778.91 and the FBM 70 gave up 66.14 points to 13,775.56.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index went down 60.20 points to 15,256.90, the Plantation Index slid 26.70 points to 7,129.56 and the Industrial Products & Services Index eased 0.95 of-a-point to 149.48. — Bernama
