Bursa Malaysia ends lower on cautious sentiment

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended lower yesterday on cautious sentiment amid looming concerns over trade tension between the US and its trading partners, most notably China.

At 5 pm, the key FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) closed 6.45 points lower at 1,685.05 from Friday’s close of 1,691.50.

The index opened 3.43 points higher at 1,694.93 and moved between 1,677.33 and 1,697.15 throughout the trading session.

The index opened 3.43 points higher at 1,694.93 and moved between 1,677.33 and 1,697.15 throughout the trading session.

A dealer said US tariffs on US$34 billion of Chinese products are expected to take effect this Friday with China set to retaliate with duties of its own on the same value of American goods.

He said uncertainty on trade policy, most recently related to foreign investment in US technologies, as well as concerns that retaliation could intensify to the point that global economic growth is negatively affected, have weighed on investor sentiment in recent weeks.

He added that there are also no signs of the US and China restarting trade negotiations ahead of July 6 when the new tariffs kick off.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank, TNB and CIMB eased four sen each to RM8.96, RM14.60 and RM5.41 respectively, Public Bank fell 38 sen to RM22.98 and Petronas Chemicals slipped one sen to RM8.40.

Among actives, Hibiscus Petroleum added 1.5 sen to 90 sen while Trive was flat at 2.5 sen.

Sapura Energy lost two sen to 62 sen, Borneo Oil slipped half-a-sen to 6.5 sen and MyEG declined 2.5 sen to 94 sen.

TA Enterprise shares were suspended from 10.32 am until the rest of the trading day with its last trading price at 66 sen, up half-asen from Friday’s closing.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index decreased 41.92 points to 11,919.01, the FBM70 was 37.949 points lower at 14,589.11 and the FBMT100 Index erased 41.279 points to 11,716.65.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 0.66 of-a-point to 12,093.21 and the FBM Ace Index gained 8.11 points to 5,135.64.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index dwindled 161.15 points to 16,488.76 and the Industrial Index fell 20.37 points to 3,107.16 while the Plantation Index rose 4.42 points to 7,538.58.

Losers led gainers 505 to 341, with 378 counters unchanged, 625 untraded and 21 others suspended.

Volume was lower at 1.69 billion units valued at RM1.61 billion from Friday’s 2.22 billion units worth RM2.97 billion.

Main Market volume decreased to 1.19 billion shares worth RM1.53 billion from 1.4 billion shares worth RM2.75 billion on Friday.

Warrants turnover fell to 256.67 million units valued at RM45.64 million from Friday’s 635.81 million units valued at RM186.22 million.

Volume on the ACE Market improved to 241.68 million shares worth RM45.64 million from 181.95 million shares worth RM34.19 million previously.

For further information on stocks and prices, please visit www.bursamalaysia.com.