KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia came under selling pressure early Wednesday, in line with the weaker key Asian markets, as fresh anxiety weighed on investor sentiment due to the US-China trade conflict.
At 9.16am, the FBM KLCI was down 10.76 points or 0.66% to 1,628.61. Turnover was 206.66 million shares valued at RM123mil. There were 64 gainers, 370 losers and 172 counters unchanged.
Reuters reported Asian equities tracked Wall Street's slide on Wednesday as the latest developments in the US-China trade conflict fanned fresh fears about global growth, driving support for safe-haven government bonds.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.3% to its lowest level since late March. Australian stocks declined 0.35%, South Korea's KOSPI fell 1% and Japan's Nikkei was down 1.5%.
Wall Street stocks slid on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 losing 1.65% and the Dow falling 1.8%.
At Bursa, Carlsberg fell 48 sen to RM25.22 while BAT was down 44 sen to RM34.08 and F&N 12 sen to RM33.72.
Among the key KLCI stocks, Public Bank lost 32 sen to RM22.16 but expectations are that the decline could provide buying opportunity. Petronas Dagangan lost 20 sen to RM23.92.
PLB was down 17 sen to RM1.10, UMW 15 sen to RM5.45 and Hartalega
14 sen to RM4.91.
Vitrox lost 13 sen to RM7.02, Dufu fell nine sen to RM1.61 and MyEG three sen to RM1.48 in active trade but IFCA MSC gained three sen to 50 sen.
RHB Bank rose six sen to RM5.75. CIMB Equities Research has kept RHB Bank as its top pick for the sector.
Win a prize this Mother's Day by subscribing to our annual plan now! T&C applies.
