KUALA LUMPUR: The local bourse joined other Asian markets in the red in early Friday trade as global markets retreated from news of US President Donald Trump's planned tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.
At 9.15am, the FBM KLCI was down 4.60 points to 1,856.26 points. Turnover was 301.3 million shares with a value of RM102.92mil. There were 317 decliners to 70 advancers and 194 counters unchanged.
Actively traded stocks included HB Global
, rising one sen to 29 sen, Daya, gaining 0.5 sen to 4.5 sen and Asiaply, adding 2.5 sen to 14.5 sen.
Some leading decliners on Bursa Malaysia included Hengyuan, falling 36 sen to RM12.44; Time dotcom, slipping 25 sen to RM8.20; and United Plantation, falling 38 sen to RM28.30.
Meanwhile, AirAsia saw some profit taking on Friday, following strong gains the previous session on the back of news that it was disposing of its aircraft leasing operations. The counter slid two sen to RM4.58 in early trade.
Oil prices snapped three days of declines on hopes that the global oil glut was coming to an end.
Stocks continued to fall at Cushing in Oklahoma, with inventories down by 1.2 million barrels, the 10th consecutive week of declines, the Energy Information Administration said this week.
WTI crude rose 25 cents to US$61.28 a barrel while Brent crude gained 29 cents to US$64.12 a barrel.
The ringgit also firmed up as the greenback slipped back following Trump's announcement. The local currency strengthened 0.36% against the US dollar at 3.9140.
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