Bursa Malaysia ends lower amid dip in most Asian marts

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia se led lower yesterday, mirroring Asian market movements as investors awaited the latest developments on the US-China trade negotiations amid a lack of market-moving news locally.

At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) dropped 4.48 points to 1,592.93, dragged down mainly by Petronas Chemicals, Sime Darby Plantation and Maxis.

The index opened 0.18 of-apoint higher at 1,597.59 compared to Friday’s close of 1,597.41.

Overall, market breadth was negative as losers led winners 502 to 333 with 398 counters unchanged, 754 untraded and 19 others suspended.

Turnover shrank to 2.03 billion units worth RM1.39 billion from 3.10 billion units worth RM3.29 billion last Friday.

An analyst said recent deputylevel trade talks between the US and China in Washington ended without any outcome, while US President Donald Trump said he was not looking for a partial deal with Beijing, shrugging off hopes of a possible interim deal.

In addition, stocks also reacted negatively to news that Chinese trade negotiators cancelled a scheduled visit to US farms this week.

Hence, he said, the lack of catalysts and weaker external factors would continue to affect investors’ interest in the local market, with the FBM KLCI remaining in a tight range of between 1,590 and 1,610.

“It was reported more meetings between the US and China would be held in October, so investors are hoping for more positive clues soon,” he added.

Throughout the day, Petronasrelated counters continued to decline, with Petronas Chemicals losing 15 sen to RM7.54, Petronas Gas easing 20 sen to RM16.42 and Petronas Dagangan down by 10 sen at RM23.30.

Among other heavyweights, Sime Darby Plantation dropped 14 sen to RM4.75, Maxis declined 12 sen to RM5.55, and Maybank was 10 sen easier at RM8.72.

As for the actives, Bumi Armada added one sen to 34 sen, while Netx and Ikhmas Jaya were both unchanged at one sen and 12.5 sen, respectively.

The FBM Emas Index declined 30.55 points to 11,252.42, the FBMT 100 Index gave up 29.58 points to 11,085.83 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index shed 60.50 points to 11,773.81.

The FBM 70 fell 30.60 points to 13,932.55 and the FBM Ace edged down 0.88 of-a-point to 4,572.28.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index slipped 8.52 points to 15,453.41, the Plantation Index weakened by 54.22 points to 6,722.45 and the Industrial Products & Services Index was 1.30 points lower at 153.25.

Main Market volume decreased to 1.22 billion shares worth RM1.23 billion from 2.32 billion shares worth RM3.12 billion last Friday.