Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended marginally lower in tandem with the regional sell-off as renewed US tariff threats and potential retaliatory measures from Beijing reignited trade war concerns and dampened investor sentiment.
“Donald Trump declared plans last Friday to implement a 100% tariff on all Chinese exports entering the US following China’s curbs on the export of critical minerals.
“The development had led investors to adopt a cautious stance, resulting in profit-taking activities across the region as they assessed the potential impact on global trade and economic growth,” he told Bernama.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI slipped 7.06 points, or 0.43%, to 1,615.19 from 1,622.25 at last Friday’s close.
The benchmark index opened 20.50 points lower at 1,601.75 and moved between 1,601.75 and 1,618.13 throughout the trading session.
The broader market was negative with 817 decliners outpacing 377 gainers, while 452 counters were unchanged, 1,014 untraded and 35 suspended.
Turnover increased to 3.57 billion units worth RM2.82 billion compared with 3.23 billion units valued at RM2.84 billion previously.
On the local bourse, heavyweights Tenaga Nasional added 4 sen to RM13.26 and Public Bank was 8 sen higher at RM4.22.
Meanwhile, Maybank eased 2 sen to RM9.93, CIMB Group fell 7 sen to RM7.43, and IHH Healthcare was flat at RM7.99.
Among the actives, Top Glove rose 3 sen to 70.5 sen and Tanco added 0.5 sen to 85 sen.
Zetrix slipped 2 sen to 84 sen, and Pharmaniaga eased 1 sen to 27.5 sen, while XOX edged down 0.5 sen to 10.5 sen.
Top gainers included Nestle, which rose RM2.04 to RM99.60, Petronas Dagangan gained 26 sen to RM23, KSL Holdings added 18 sen to RM2.88, Press Metal improved 14 sen to RM6.25, and Unisem increased 14 sen to RM3.61.
Among the top decliners, Malaysian Pacific Industries slid 42 sen to RM30.30, Heineken Malaysia eased 40 sen to RM20.40, Hong Leong Industries fell 32 sen to RM13.76, UMS Integration declined 22 sen to RM4.63 and Eurospan slipped 20 sen to RM2.68.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 52.77 points to 12,078.54, the FBMT 100 Index eased 54.73 points to 11,799.15, the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 26.17 points to 12,172.80, the FBM 70 Index dipped 93.10 points to 17,084.42, and the FBM ACE Index declined 48.35 points to 5,250.41.
Sector-wise, the financial services index shed 161.39 points to 18,222.05, the industrial products and services index edged down 0.34 of-a-point to 174.52, the energy index slipped 3.83 points to 795.17, and the plantation index narrowed 25.83 points to 7,865.12.
The Main Market volume increased to 1.93 billion units valued at RM2.49 billion from 1.78 billion units worth RM2.54 billion previously.
Warrants turnover climbed to 1.12 billion units worth RM134.92 million compared with 1.04 billion units valued at RM130.19 million previously.
The ACE Market volume expanded to 516.48 million units valued at RM188.52 million from 411.55 million units worth RM162.59 million last Friday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 276.22 million shares traded, industrial products and services (380.77 million), construction (86.49 million), technology (342.48 million), financial services (84.81 million), property (229.51 million), plantation (24.51 million), real estate investment trusts (30.75 million), closed/fund (32,900), energy (109.48 million), healthcare (264.73 million), telecommunications and media (27.89 million), transportation and logistics (26.74 million), utilities (41.57 million), and business trusts (nil).