Sino-US tensions send equities lower

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia fell in early morning trade as investors worried over the fallout from US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, despite China's repeated warnings.

At 9.17 am, the FBM KLCI was down 7.51 points to 1,487.54. There were 229 decliners compared with 138 gainers.

Trading volume was 194.99 million shares valued at RM84.47mil.

"The global markets may see an uneven recovery as investors weighed the escalating US-China tension and some hawkish comments from several Fed officials, which cause a surge in bond yields as investors priced in more interest rate hike.

"Nevertheless, we believe continuous buying from the foreign funds will support the local bourse," said Malacca Securities Research in a report.

Among blue chips, bank stocks were down led by Maybank falling five sen to RM8.83, Public Bank shedding six sen to RM4.60, Hong Leong Bank dropping two sen to RM20.88 and CIMB sliding four sen to RM5.21

Digi dropped five sen to RM3.52 and Maxis shed three sen to RM3.62 while Axiata lost two sen to RM2.81

Of actives, MQTech was flat at four sen, Borneo Oil unchanged at 2.5 sen and CSH unmoved at 5.5 sen.