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 (Aug 24): The FBM KLCI fell 2.28 points or 0.13% to 1,808.59 today after trade talks between the United States and China ended without any progress.
External headwinds weighed on investors' sentiment and put pressure on the equity market, said Inter-Pacific Securities Sdn Bhd head of research Pong Teng Siew.
"The trade spat between the US and China continues to weigh on Asian exporting countries. If you look at the local market, it was down for the entire day as the market breadth was negative," said Pong.
US and Chinese officials ended two days of talks yesterday with no major breakthrough, Reuters reported. This comes as the trade conflict between the two countries escalated with another round of duelling tariffs on US$16 billion worth of each country's goods taking effect.
Across Bursa Malaysia, there were 638 losers compared with 267 gainers while 387 counters closed unchanged. About 2.59 billion shares worth RM2.20 billion were traded.
Top decliners included Panasonic Manufacturing Malaysia Bhd, British American Tobacco (Malaysia) Bhd and Public Bank Bhd.
Elsewhere in Asia, sentiment was also affected by the failed US-China talks. Reuters added that market focus has now shifted to a speech by the Federal Reserve chairman for fresh clues on the direction of US monetary policy.
Japan's Nikkei advanced 0.85%, South Korea's KOSPI gained 0.46% and Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite rose 0.18%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.43% and Singapore's Straits Times Index fell 1.14%.
Source: The Edge
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