KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia finished the morning session easier today, mirroring the global market performance following last Friday’s sell-off on Wall Street and the ongoing negative sentiment affecting United States (US) stock futures due to President Donald Trump’s tariff plans.
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) erased 4.54 points to 1,552.38 from last Friday’s close of 1,556.92.
The benchmark index, which opened 9.36 points lower at 1,547.56, moved between 1,546.68 and 1,556.74 during the session.
Losers led gainers in the broader market by 536 to 297, while 408 counters were unchanged, 1,053 untraded, and 15 suspended.
In a research note today, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said Wall Street edged lower following Trump’s comments about tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China.
"Investors are likely to shift toward defensive sectors like real estate investment trust in view of its defensive characteristic and strong quarterly performances due to higher net property income,” the stockbroking firm said.
This week, traders will closely monitor the ISM manufacturing and non-manufacturing purchasing managers’ indices (PMIs), initial jobless claims, and the US unemployment rate.
"In the commodities market, Brent crude is trading close to US$76 per barrel, while gold prices charged toward an all-time high of US$2,817 (per ounce) before closing slightly below the US$2,800 mark,” it said.
Regionally, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.74 per cent to 20,075.95, Singapore’s Strait Times Index was 0.29 per cent lower at 3,844.55, South Korea’s Kospi dropped 3.07 per cent to 2,439.97 and Japan’s Nikkei 225 tumbled 2.85 per cent to 38,446.10.
Maybank, which declined eight sen to RM10.26, led the losers among the FBM KLCI constituents. Petronas Chemicals was down nine sen to RM4.56, Sime Darby reduced six sen to RM2.19, YTL Power International
eased eight sen to RM3.05 and YTL Corporation lost five sen to RM1.86.
As for the actives, Compugates advanced half-a-sen to 1.5 sen, Kinergy Advancement was flat at 33 sen, MAG edged up one sen to 21 sen, JF Technology warrant slipped one sen to 11 sen and Supermax added eight sen at RM1.15.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 23.30 points to 11,860.41, the FBMT 100 Index retreated 20.44 points to 11,555.46, the FBM Emas Shariah Index weakened 17.27 points to 11,719.86 and the FBM ACE Index dropped 27.88 points to 5,167.19.
In contrast, the FBM 70 Index gained 18.86 points to 17,605.88.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index shed 1.61 points to 7,343.99. the Financial Services Index trimmed 33.43 points to 18,820.92, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.85 of-a-point to 164.52, and the Energy Index declined 5.26 points to 818.06. - Bernama
