KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia dipped on Wednesday as investors took profit out of the market after recent gains, in anticipation of an escalation of exchanges between the US and China in the ongoing tariffs war.
The FBM KLCI dropped 9.95 points to 1,476.48, as the index took a sideways motion on the heels of a pause in the global market recovery.
There was a broad market pullback with the Bursa Malaysia scoreboard registering 499 laggards compared to 264 gainers.
Volume was 1.99 billion shares transacted for a total value of RM763.2mil.
Meanwhile, regional markets were mostly lower. While China reported economic growth of 5.4% in the first quarter of the year, the uncertain outlook dampened the investment mood.
In addition, the overnight plunge in Nvidia shares as it announced US$5.5bil in charges due to the US government's move to limit exports of its chips to China, and Trump's instruction to review all chip imports, heightened concerns of an all-out battle in the tech space.
The Shanghai composite index sheved 0.92% to 3,273, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index dove 2.53% to 20,922.
Japan's Nikkei was down 0.84% to 33,980. Singapore's Straits Times index rose 0.28% to 3,634.
