KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia closed almost flat on Tuesday as buying interest rotated away from index heavyweights towards smaller-cap construction stocks, with sentiment affected by geopolitical uncertainty, said an analyst. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 0.39 of a point to 1,714.40 from Monday’s close of 1,714.79. The benchmark index opened 1.65 points lower at 1,713.14 and moved between 1,710.44 and 1,714.50 throughout the trading session. The broader market was almost evenly balanced, with decliners leading gainers 548 to 546, while 598 counters were unchanged, 1,107 were untraded and 25 were suspended. Turnover expanded to 4.13 billion units valued at RM3.14 billion from 3.60 billion units valued at RM2.45 billion on Monday.
KUALA LUMPUR (July 2): Malaysian shares started the week lower, along with its regional peers as concerns about the potential for a trade war between the US and China continue to drag down the FBM KLCI.
At 5pm, the benchmark index fell by 6.45 points or 0.38% to close at 1,685.05 points, after hitting an intra-day high of 1,697.15 points. The index fell to an intraday low of 1,677.33 points.
When contacted, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd senior research analyst Kenneth Leong told theedgemarkets.com that despite the KLCI opening higher at opening bell today, it gave up all its intra-day gains by market close due to the concerns.
"Concerns (on the trade war) would persist in the short term as there will be tariff from US on US$34 billion worth of China goods by July 6, and there might be more to come as indicated by US President Donald Trump," he said.
"Oil price also [saw] some pullback today. Generally, the market was quite bearish today, the silver lining would be the resilience among the consumer product sector as they are defensive in nature," Leong added.
Reuters reported that a renewed slide in Chinese shares and a sobering set of factory surveys dragged down Asian markets today, while the euro and the Mexican peso were both jolted by political developments at home.
Regionally, Japan's Nikkei slipped by 2.21% today, together with South Korea's Kospi, which was down 2.35%, while Hong Kong Hang Seng Index rose 1.61%.
Trading volume decreased to 1.7 billion shares worth RM1.62 billion compared with Friday's 2.23 billion shares worth RM2.98 billion. There were 342 gainers versus 505 losers, while 378 counters remained unchanged.
Top gainers were led by Supermax Corp Bhd, while British American Tobacco (M) Bhd was the biggest decliner on Bursa Malaysia. Sapura Energy Bhd was the most actively traded counter, with 123.05 million shares done.
Source: The Edge
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