Bursa lower as trade tensions rise

SHARES on Bursa Malaysia closed lower yesterday on concerns over the escalating trade tensions between the United States and China, said dealers.

At the close, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 1.62 points to 1,603.74. The barometer index opened 3.38 points higher at 1,608.74 and hovered between 1,603.65 and 1,614.23 throughout the day.

A dealer said the general market undertone, reflecting wariness of the escalating US-Sino trade war, was likely to remain in a prolonged cautious mode following the US sanctions against Huawei Technologies Co Ltd last week.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank eased one sen to RM8.99 and CIMB lost two sen to RM5.14.

Public Bank added six sen to RM22.48, Petronas Chemicals gained two sen to RM8.82 and Tenaga picked up 10 sen to RM11.68.

Of the actively-traded stocks, Barakah lost 1.5 sen to seven sen, Lambo and Bumi Armada slipped half-a-sen each to 6.5 sen and 19 sen, respectively, and Impiana declined one sen to 3.5 sen.

Market breadth was negative as losers beat gainers 604 to 216 with 312 counters unchanged, 780 untraded and 39 others suspended.

Turnover decreased to 1.8 billion units worth RM1.46 billion from Friday’s 1.91 billion units worth RM1.46 billion.

The FBM Emas Index lost 44.74 points to 11,255.31, the FBMT 100 was 38.18 points lower at 11,098.62 and the FBM 70 fell 156.891 points to 13,698.43.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 52.21 points to 11,399.13 and the FBM ACE Index eased 2.93 points to 4,392.21.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index rose 22.381 points to 16,585.25 while the Plantation Index lost 12.93 points to 6,882.57 and the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.62 of-a-point lower at 163.2.

Main Market volume increased to 1.17 billion shares worth RM1.34 billion from Friday’s 1.09 billion shares worth RM1.30 billion.

Warrants turnover decreased to 292.27 million units valued at RM73.76 million from 384.05 million units valued at RM113.00 million.

Volume on the ACE Market contracted to 331.36 million shares worth RM40.73 million from 437.79 million shares worth RM49.30 million previously.

The FBM KLCI futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed slightly higher yesterday on mild buying, despite the weaker cash market.

May 2019 improved one point to 1,601.50, June 2019 added 1.5 points to 1,602.5 and September 2019 and December 2019 climbed 0.5 of a point each to 1,599 and 1,599.5 respectively.

Turnover rose to 7,983 lots from 5,842 lots on Friday and open interest increased to 35,387 contracts from 33,412 contracts previously.