KUALA LUMPUR: Investors take a breather and lock in profits after recent gains, while the ringgit weakens against the US dollar on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump signals impending tariffs on steel and aluminium.
Trump announced plans for a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminium imports.
At 5 pm, the FBM KLCI was down 0.96 of a point, or 0.06%, to 1,589.95, recovering from an intraday low of 1,584.20.
In the broader market, decliners outnumbered gainers with 590 counters ending lower, 367 closing higher and 52 counters unchanged. Turnover stood at three billion shares worth RM1.85bil.
Malaysian Pacific Industries
, the top loser on Bursa Malaysia, slid 62 sen to RM22.12. Dutch Lady fell 28 sen to RM30.72, Guan Chong lost 23 sen to RM4 and F&N declined 20 sen to RM26.
Among the gainers, Allianz rose 30 sen to RM19.28, Nestle added 30 sen to RM90.80, AmBank gained 10 sen to RM5.80 and Ayer climbed 10 sen to RM7.10.
Newly listed Colform climbed three sen, or 8.33% to 39 sen with 146.09 million shares traded.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that the ringgit was the worst performer among weak Asian currencies on Monday, as markets reacted to China’s trade war with the United States and its economic outlook.
Despite outperforming its Southeast Asian peers in 2024, the ringgit fell as much as 0.82% against the US dollar at 4.4760.
The local currency depreciated 0.5% against the Singapore dollar to 3.3057 and fell 0.37% to 5.5522 against the pound sterling.
Elsewhere in the region, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.04%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed up 1.84%, South Korea’s Kospi declined 0.03%, China’s CSI 300 Index added 0.21% and Singapore’s Straits Times Index advanced 0.43%.
