Bursa pushed down at mid-afternoon by selling pressure

KUALA LUMPUR, March 23 — Bursa Malaysia remained lower at mid-afternoon on selling pressure across the board amid trade war concerns.

At 3pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 17.44 points lower at 1,859.43 from Thursday's close of 1,876.87.

The key index opened 16.29 points lower at 1,860.58.

A dealer said US President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum on Thursday that could impose tariffs of up to US$60 billion on imports from China and restrictions aimed at preventing Chinese-controlled companies and funds from acquiring US firms with sensitive technologies.

He said the memorandum sparked concerns of a trade war between the two giant economies and sent stocks tumbling worldwide.

On Bursa Malaysia, losers led gainers 825 to 132, with 287 counters unchanged, 651 untraded and 18 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.21 billion shares worth RM1.04 billion.

Leading the losers list, Petronas Dagangan and KESM shed 52 sen each to RM24.28 and RM19.28 respectively, Hong Leong Industries fell 50 sen to RM18.72 and UMW lost 33 sen to RM6.17.

Of the actively-traded stocks, Sapura Energy added half-a-sen to 54.5 sen.

Vizione and AirAsia X lost one sen each to 14 sen and 39 sen respectively, Sino Hua-an declined three sen to 35.5 sen and PUC slipped half-a-sen to 17 sen.

The FBM Emas Index decreased 140.399 points to 13,019.65, the FBMT 100 Index was 129.38 points easier at 12,803.8 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 117.329 points to 13,162.19.

The FBM 70 shed 188.3 points to 15,486.91 and the FBM Ace was 125.26 points lower at 5,647.55.

Sectorwise, the Finance Index dwindled 226.131 points to 18,149.62, the Plantation Index was 43.17 points easier at 7,998.83 and the Industrial Index declined 27.73 points to 3,243.97. — Bernama​