Bursa Malaysia Stays Lower At Midday

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 19 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia stayed lower at midday, weighed down by mostly weaker regional markets, following news of United States President Donald Trump’s threats to impose fresh tariffs on eight European countries over Greenland.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 2.36 points to 1,710.38 from last Friday’s close of 1,712.74.

The benchmark index opened 2.47 points lower at 1,710.57 and moved between 1,704.64 and 1,711.06 during the session.

Market breadth was negative with losers surpassing gainers 641 to 255, while 463 counters were unchanged, 1,296 untraded and 11 suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.61 billion units valued at RM1.17 billion.

According to news reports, Trump plans to impose new trade tariffs of 10 per cent on goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland starting Feb 1, which would rise to 25 per cent if a deal is not reached by June 1.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said Trump’s recently renewed tariff measures may dampen local sentiment.

However, the brokerage firm believes that healthy foreign fund inflows will continue to support the FBM Small Cap Index.

“Hence, we believe a ‘pick-and-shovel’ play is emerging within the data centre value chain, particularly in the mechanical and electrical segment. MN Holdings may provide traders with exposure to the latter, especially given its recently secured contracts worth RM122.7 million,” it said in a note today.

Among the heavyweights, CIMB Group shed two sen to RM8.39 and IHH Healthcare slid three sen to RM8.35, while Maybank and Tenaga Nasional were unchanged at RM11.60 and RM13.86, respectively, and Public Bank gained five sen to RM4.78.

On the most active list, AirAsia X declined five sen to RM1.62, SMRT Holdings reduced 25 sen to 19.5 sen, Zetrix AI weakened by one sen to 80.5 sen and Capital A slipped four sen to 50.5 sen, while Tanco Holdings rose one sen to RM1.26.

Among the top gainers, Allianz Malaysia surged RM1.06 sen to RM21.50, Hong Leong Financial Group jumped 60 sen to RM21.56, Hong Leong Bank advanced 20 sen to RM24.14, Petronas Chemicals Group strengthened 12 sen to RM3.39, and LPI Capital firmed 14 sen to RM15.28.

As for the leading decliners, United Plantations fell 68 sen to RM31.02, PLysaght Galvanized Steel dipped 10 sen to RM2.31, Malayan Pacific Industries gave up 38 sen to RM34.10, MISC erased 11 sen to RM7.69, and Nestle decreased 10 sen to RM115.90.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 32.66 points to 12,612.37, the FBM Top 100 Index lost 31.38 points to 12,405.34, the FBM Emas Shariah Index reduced 57.73 points to 12,245.09, the FBM Mid 70 Index retreated 108.29 points to 17,577.31, and the FBM ACE Index tumbled 48.68 points to 4,924.75.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gained 83.83 points to 20,809.64, while the Energy Index eased 7.46 points to 776.59, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.45 of a point to 174.62, and the Plantation Index slid 46.64 points to 8,320.45.

-- BERNAMA