KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia was lower at Tuesday’s close as investors were cautious after the conclusion of the Group of 20 meeting, with some still pondering the possible outcome of the 90-day trade war truce between the US and China, dealers said.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 4.73 points to 1,694.99 from Monday’s close of 1,699.72, after opening 2.91 points weaker at 1,696.81.
The index moved between 1,688.88 and 1,698.51 throughout the morning session.
On the broader market, losers trounced gainers 525 to 282, while 361 counters were unchanged, 700 untraded and 21 others suspended.
Volume narrowed to 2.44 billion units, worth RM2.08 billion, from 2.52 billion units valued at RM2.29 billion.
A dealer said besides the local bourse, its regional peers were also trading on a downtrend after posting gains at Monday’s closing.
“Traders are in doubt that both the US and China would finally be on the same page and resolve their differences before the 90-day deadline is up,“ he said.
It was reported that the US government had agreed to keep the tariffs on US$200 billion worth of Chinese imports at the 10% rate and not raise them to 25% on Jan 1, 2019.
China, meanwhile, gave a green light to purchase a “very substantial” amount of agricultural, energy, industrial and other products from the US to reduce the trade imbalance between the two countries.
The barometer index was cushioned from weakening further by the higher global oil prices.
The crude Brent price rose 1.12% to US$62.38 per barrel.
Investors will next be focusing on the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries meeting, scheduled at the end of the week to provide some clues for the market outlook.
Back home, among heavyweights, Maybank fell one sen to RM9.42, Tenaga declined 16 sen to RM14.14, Petronas Chemicals shed two sen to RM9.15, while Public Bank was flat at RM24.88.
Of actives, Bumi Armada fell 2.5 sen to 17 sen, Sumatec Resources slipped half-a-sen to two sen, Sanichi gained half-a-sen to 17 sen and Hibiscus Petroleum added three sen to RM1.11.
The FBM Emas Syariah Index decreased 29.82 points to 11,757.67, the FBM 70 shed 44.31 points to 13,605.70 and FBM Ace Index was 61.78 points weaker at 4,805.28.
The FBM Emas Index depreciated 34.27 points to 11,701.99 and the FBMT 100 Index edged down 33.53 points to 11,571.98.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index eased 10.80 points to 6,936,96, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.37 of-a-point weaker at 170.39 and the Financial Services Index lost 39.96 points to 17,446.22.
Main Market volume increased to 1.91 billion shares valued at RM1.96 billion from 1.86 billion shares, worth RM2.13 billion, recorded yesterday.
Warrants turnover fell to 334.85 million units worth RM78.31 million versus 441.26 million units valued at RM106.46 million.
Volume on the ACE Market slipped to 189.21 million shares worth RM42.02 million compared with the 219.12 million shares valued at RM56.53 million registered yesterday.
Consumer products and services accounted for 203.02 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (678.55 million), construction (92 million), technology (117.25 million), SPAC (130,000), financial services (41.78 million), property (67.81 million), plantations (34.26 million), REITs (4.3 million), closed/fund (1,400), energy (503.91 million), healthcare (25.82 million), telecommunication and media (69.86 million), transportation and logistics (41.16 million), and utilities (28.43 million).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM159.85 per gramme, up 25 sen from RM159.60 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama
