KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI closed in the red on Tuesday as escalation of U.S.-China trade war kept investors off risky bets.
At 5pm, the 30-stock index was down 5.7 points to 1,794.47, its intra-day low. There were 393 gainers, 384 losers and 398 counters traded unchanged on the Bursa Malaysia. Turnover stood at 1.858 billion shares valued at RM1.914bil.
Reuters reported that China’s stock markets fell on Tuesday, their first trading day after new U.S. and Chinese tariffs on each others goods kicked in on Monday.
At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was down 16.35 points or 0.6% at 2,797.48 while the blue-chip CSI300 index ended 0.9% lower, Stock markets in China were closed on Monday for a holiday.
Japan’s Nikkei index closed 0.29% higher at 23,940.26 while South Korea’s Kospi index closed 0.68% higher at 2,339.17. Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 0.07%.
Laggards in the KLCI component stocks were led by Axiata, which pushed the index down by 3.413 points. Axiata shed 21 sen to RM4.56.
Petronas Chemical and Dialog fell five sen each to RM9.41 and RM3.45 respectively. CIMB Group
closed three sen lower at RM6 while Genting Malaysia declined four sen to RM5.02.
On the other hand, Petronas Dagangan closed 28 sen higher to RM26.64, IOI Corp gained four sen to RM4.54 and Sime ended three sen higher at RM2.62.
Meanwhile, oil prices shot to its highest in four years on Tuesday, amid looming U.S. sanctions against Iran.
Brent crude futures were up 75 cents on the day at US$81.95 a barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained 40 cents to US$ 72.48.
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