KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed lower today weighed down by uncertainty ahead of the Dec 15 deadline for fresh US tariffs on US$156 billion (US$1=RM4.15) of Chinese imports.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 0.92 point to 1,561.79 from Monday’s close of 1,562.71.
The barometer index opened 1.24 points lower at 1,561.47 and moved between 1,559.23 and 1,564.82 throughout the day.
A dealer said the market, which was mostly in negative territory in the morning session, managed to break out into positive territory in the evening session but failed to sustain momentum on lack of follow-through buying with the ongoing trade spat between China and US continuing to weigh on sentiment.
“While recent statements from both the US and Chinese officials have suggested that some form of a trade deal is possible, markets will be watching for more details,” he said.
Among heavyweights, Maybank lost two sen to RM8.54, Public Bank fell six sen to RM18.96, Petronas Chemicals declined five sen to RM7 and CIMB eased four sen to RM5.14.
TNB added four sen to RM13.26.
Of the actives, Jaks lost three sen to RM1.27 and Sanichi slipped half-a-sen to 4.5 sen.
TDM climbed half-a-sen to 31 sen, Foundpac garnered 4.5 sen to 68.5 sen and Bumi Armada gained 2.5 sen to 48.5 sen.
On the broader market, losers edged gainers 443 to 365, with 371 counters unchanged, 793 untraded and 18 others suspended.
Volume rose to 2.66 billion units worth RM1.5 billion from Monday’s 2.61 billion units worth RM1.62 billion.
The FBM Emas Index edged up 1.49 points to 11,110.73, the FBMT 100 Index increased 1.15 points to 10,911.42 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index went up 5.199 points to 11,705.9.
The FBM Ace rose 33.46 points to 4,920.03 and the FBM 70 expanded 32.43 points to 13,887.71.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products & Services Index slipped 0.29 point to 149.6, the Financial Services Index declined 18.07 points to 15,185.5 and the Plantation Index decreased 29.44 points to 7,465.83.
Main Market volume rose to 1.93 billion shares worth RM1.36 billion from Monday’s 1.80 billion shares worth RM1.43 billion.
Warrants turnover went up to 243.6 million units valued at RM40.05 million from 224.28 million units valued at RM38.14 million yesterday.
Volume on the ACE Market contracted to 487.27 million shares worth RM104.84 million from 581.31 million shares worth RM154.49 million previously.
Consumer products and services accounted for 260.02 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (282.36 million), construction (162.35 million), technology (118.86 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (30.48 million), property (127.24 million), plantations (161.72 million), REITs (6.77 million), closed/fund (65,000), energy (700.3 million), healthcare (11.11 million), telecommunications and media (31.64 million), transportation and logistics (26.9 million), and utilities (13.12 million). - Bernama
