KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia finished the week lower today, tracking the extended global sell-off as trade war worries emerged following US President’s hefty steel and aluminium import tariff decision. Affin Hwang Investment Bank Vice-President/Head of Retail Research Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan said investor sentiment had already been clouded by the recent US Federal Reserve Chair’s hawkish monetary policy that hinted for a faster pace of interest rate increase.At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) closed 4.79 points or 0.26% lower at 1,856.07 from Thursday’s close of 1,860.86. The benchmark index opened 3.05 points easier at 1,857.81 and moved between 1,854.25 and 1,860.64 throughout the day. Market breadth was negative as losers led gainers 656 to 291 with 411 counters unchanged, 501 untraded and 20 others suspended.
Volume fell to 2.55 billion units worth RM2.41 billion against 3.39 billion units worth RM2.51 billion yesterday. Nazri Khan said US President Donald Trump’s plan to impose tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminium imports had triggered trade war worries involving countries like China and European countries.”Investors believed the move would have a spillover effect on emerging markets like Malaysia and turn away from the equity market,” he told Bernama.Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei dipped 542.83 points or 2.5% to 21,181.64, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng erased 485.37 points or 1.56% to 30,558.88 and the Shanghai Composite Index eased 19.23 points or 0.59% to 3,254.53.Among heavyweights, Press Metal was the top loser, declining 32 sen to RM5.47 following Trump’s steel and aluminium import tariff hike announcement on Thursday.Axiata and Maxis gave up nine sen each to RM5.33 and RM5.81, respectively, Genting Malaysia erased 11 sen to RM5.20 and Genting was 12 sen lower at RM9.00.Among the active counters, HB Global reduced 2.5 sen to 25.5 sen, Sapura Energy slid two sen to 62.5 sen, Daya Materials and Asia Poly gained half-a-sen each to 4.5 sen and 12.5 sen, respectively, while DBE Gurney was flat at 3.5 sen.
