KUALA LUMPUR: Key Asian markets were routed on Monday after US President Donald Trump issued more tariff threats against China but Bursa Malaysia managed to close off its intra-day lows.
At 5pm, the KLCI was down 4.5 points or 0.27% to 1,632.80. It fell to a low of 1,624. Turnover was 2.79 billion shares valued at RM1.70bil. Decliners beat advancers by more than five to one or 790 losers to 150 gainers and 324 counters unchanged.
Trump threatened in two tweets to more than double tariffs on US$200bil of Chinese goods, and impose a fresh round of duties on top of that, Bloomberg reported, as he sought to ramp up pressure on China for more concessions.
His threats saw the blue-chip CSI300 index and the Shanghai Composite Index tumbling more than 5%, posting their steepest single-day drop since February 2016. Around 1,000 mainland firms plummet the maximum allowed 10% daily limit, according to Reuters. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slumped more than 3%.
At Bursa, market sentiment took a hit from the fresh threats as the fallout would have an impact on Malaysia as China is among the largest trading partners.
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