The ringgit weakened 0.11% against the US dollar to 4.0022.
KUALA LUMPUR: US President Donald Trump's threat to slaps tariffs on another US$200bil on Chinese imports dealt a heavy blow to European and key Asian markets, especially China as investors fled riskier assets especially equities.
At Bursa, key banking stocks Maybank and Public Bank led the FBM KLCI lower as the heavy selling stretched into 30 days.
At 5pm, the KLCI was down 28.07 points or 1.61% to 1,715.36. Turnover was 2.31 billion shares valued at RM2.65bil. Decliners beat advancers 673 to 226 while 386 counters were unchanged.
Foreign funds continued to cut their stakes in Malaysian equities, with net selling at RM550mil but the selling was offset by local institutions net buying at RM458.7mil and local retailers buying at RM96.3mil.
Bloomberg reported China’s benchmark equity gauge tumbled to a two-year low and the yuan weakened as a worsening trade dispute with the US spurred panic selling. Bonds gained. The Shanghai Composite Index plummeted almost 5% in intraday trading before paring losses, while a gauge of technology shares sank the most in two years.
China’s currency fell to a five-month low against the dollar and the 10 year-yield on government debt dropped two basis points, the wire report said.
Reuters reported Hong Kong stocks closed at their lowest in more than four months, tracking other Asian markets roiled by escalating China-US trade frictions. The Hang Seng index closed down 2.8% at 29,468.15, its lowest since early February, while the China Enterprises Index lost 3.2% to 11,492.77, its lowest in six months.
At Bursa, Public Bank fell 64 sen to RM23.36 and erased 4.43 points from the KLCI. Maybank's 27 sen fall to RM9.28 wiped out 5.27 points while CIMB, RHB Bank and Hong Leong Bank fell four sen each to RM5.86, RM5.63 and RM18.66 respectively.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery fell RM50 to RM2,2257 per tonne, the lowest since July 2016.
United Plantations fell 66 sen to RM27.22 and was the top loser of the day. PPB Group lost 28 sen to RM19.30 while KL Kepong was unchanged at RM24.30 and IOI Corp was up five sen to RM4.66 – the only stock which was up among the 30 index-linked counters.
Among the telcos, Digi and Telekom fell 14 sen each to RM4.33 and RM3.66, Axiata seven sen lower at RM4.34 and Maxis six sen to RM5.65.
Power giant Tenaga lost 16 sen to RM14.16, Press Metal
22 sen to RM4.12, Genting Malaysia 14 sen to RM4.92 and Genting six sen to RM8.50.
As for oil and gas stocks, Petronas Dagangan fell 34 sen to RM24.66, Petronas Gas eight sen to RM17.28 and Petronas Chemical two sen to RM8.36. Dialog lost 11 sen to RM3.18.
Sime Darby shed five sen to RM2.45 and Sime Plantation three sen lower at RM5.45 while Sime Property was flat at RM1.23.
The ringgit weakened 0.11% against the US dollar to 4.0022 but rose against the pound sterling by 0.2% to 5.2780. It edged up 0.08% against the euro to 4,6242 and chalked up a gain of 0.36% against the Singapore dollar to 2.9468.
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