KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips closed lower on Thursday amid a weakening broader market, tracking the key Asian and European bourses as worries about the costs of the rising US-China trade war weighed on investor sentiment.
At 5pm, the KLCI closed down 1.87 points or 0.12% to 1,601.87. Turnover was 2.38 billion shares valued at RM2.11bil. Decliners beat advancers nearly four to one, with 718 losers to 188 gainers and 314 counters unchanged.
US equity futures and European stocks tracked a slide in Asian shares as trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies showed little sign of easing. Treasuries climbed with the dollar, Bloomberg reported.
Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.62%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 1.58%, Shanghai Composite 1.36%, CSI 300 1.79%, Taiwan's Taiex 1.42% and Singapore's STI 0.7% lower.
At Bursa, the KLCI fell to a low of 1,590 in early trade before some local fund buying helped erase the losses following the overnight fall on Wall Street.
US light crude oil fell US$1.04 to US$60.38 and Brent US$1.23 lower at US$69.76.
Petronas Chemical fell 19 sen to RM8.63 and erased 2.65 points from the KLCI while Petronas Gas lost 22 sen to RM16.30 but Petronas Dagangan climbed 12 sen to RM24.70. Dialog added two sen to RM3.38.
Dayang was battered, falling 24 sen to 89 sen – the lowest since Feb 22 after announcing its results.
Barakah fell two sen to five sen, Sapura Energy
and Bumi Armada one sen each to 30 sen and 18 sen.
Chip maker MPI was the top loser, sliding 37 sen to RM8.73 on concerns about the fallout from the US curbs on Huawei and weakening chip demand due to the trade war.
Pos Malaysia skidded 22 sen to a multi-year low of RM1.36 after posting losses in the financial year ended March 31, 2019.
RHB Bank fell 18 sen to RM5.70 and wiped out 1.26 points, AmBank surrended nine sen to RM4.30 but Public Bank rose two sen to RM22.50, CIMB one sen to RM5.15, HL Bank six sen to RM19.30 and Maybank edged up three sen to RM9.02.
IHH advanced six sen to RM5.36 and added 0.92 of a point to the KLCI, GentingM was up six sen to RM3.13 but Tenaga shed two sen to RM11.66 and Sime Darby also two sen lower at RM2.15 and Genting slid five sen to RM6.33.
Crude palm oil fell RM41 to RM2,016 per tonne. IOI Corp shed three sen to RM4.19, Sime Plantation two sen to RM4.66, KL Kepong was flat at RM24.16 but PPB Group added two sen to RM14.44.
The ringgit fell 0.17% to the US dollar to 4.1933 but gained 0.15% to the pound sterling at 5.2933, advanced 0.18% to the euro at 4.6705 and eked out a 0.01% gain against the Singapore dollar at 3.0349.
