Bursa resumes slide ahead of US Fed decision

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia continued its slide as global markets traded mixed ahead of decisions made at a two-day US Federal Reserve meeting set to end on Wednesday.

Traders are widely expecting the Fed to raise interest rates for the third time this year at the culmination of the meeting in another round of tightening.

At 9.05am, the FBM KLCI was down 3.86 points to 1,790.61. Trading volume was 115.48 million shares valued at RM53.74mil. There were 117 gainers versus 78 decliners and 179 counters unchanged.

Among actively traded counters, VS Industry rose three sen to RM1.65 on the release of its Q4 results yesterday, which showed a 4% increase in net earnings.

Pestech, meanwhile, climbed eight sen to RM1.53 as the group finally secured the Gemas-JB double track electrification project worth RM399mil. 

Other early gainers included Scientex, which rose 14 sen to RM8.75 and UMW, pushing six sen higher to RM5.12.

On the declining end, Lotte Chemicals Titan shed six sen to RM5.01. 
Plantations were also seen to weigh with Sime Darby Plantation losing five sen to RM5.25 and IJM Plantation slipping three sen to RM2.43.

Meanwhile, Brent oil edged further away from a four-year high on Wednesday and US crude fell, after the US said it would ensure crude markets are well supplied before sanctions are re-imposed on Iran and as President Donald Trump criticised high prices, Reuters reported.

Brent crude futures were down 43 cents at US$81.44 a barrel. Earlier on Tuesday, Brent hit its highest since November 2014 at US$82.55 a barrel.

US crude futures were down 40 cents at US$71.88 a barrel.