KUALA LUMPUR: Regional equity markets took a fall on Monday amid fears that the momentum seen in the global economy could falter if Trump started a trade war.
The local bourse was pulled lower by the negative sentiment, with steel counters weighed down by Trump's steel and aliminium tariff plans.
Decliners were led by Press Metal
Aluminium, which dropped 46 sen or 8.41% to RM5.01.
Ann Joo Resources fell 10 sen to RM3.34, Malaysia Steel Works slid six sen to RM1.01 and Southern Steel dropped seven sen to RM1.99
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI backed down 15.14 points to 1,840.93 by midday. Turnover was 1.3 billion shares with a value of RM963.33mil. There were 782 decliners compared with 170 advancers and 261 counters unchanged.
Banking heavyweights also slid back with the broader market, led by Hong Leong Bank, which shaved 52 sen to RM18.98.
CIMB dropped nine sen to RM7.18, Maybank slipped two sen to RM10.44 while Public Bank dipped two sen to RM22.96.
Declines among telcos were led by Maxis falling 10 sen to RM5.71; Digi, shaving nine sen to RM4.66; and Telekom Malaysia, losing 17 sen to RM5.73.
Axiata bucked the trend and gained two sen to RM5.35.
Nestle was one of the few gainers on the index, rising RM2 to RM127.90.
On the wider market, refiners moved lower with Henyuan dropping RM1.16 to RM11.02. Petron Malaysia dipped 50 sen to RM10.02.
Meanwhile, oil prices rose amid improved sentiment ahead of expectations that oil producing nations would work towards remedying the supply glut situation.
WTI crude gained 25 cents to US$61.50 a barrel while Brent crude rose 27 cents to US$64.64 a barrel.
In curencies, the ringgit moved ahead of the lagging dollar, strengthening 0.12% to 3.8990. The local currency also firmed up slightly against the pound sterling at 5.3773 and 0.11% against the Singapore dollar at 2.9545.
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