Bursa Malaysia declines at midday as Washington's tariff plan weighs on sentiment
KUALA LUMPUR: Investor confidence remains under pressure amid a fragile global trade environment, as Washington announced its intention to send letters outlining unilateral tariffs to trading partners within two weeks, adding to existing economic uncertainties.
At 12.30 pm, the key index retreated by 8.59 points or 0.56 per cent to 1,518.03 from Thursday's close of 1,526.62.
The benchmark index had opened 4.15 points lower at 1,522.47 and moved between 1,515.10 and 1,522.70 during the session.
In the broader market, losers overwhelmed gainers 798 to 177, with 357 counters unchanged, 1,089 untraded, and 17 suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.94 billion units valued at RM1.07 billion.
Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd (HLIB) noted that broader market sentiment remains cautious amid lingering uncertainty over the pending US-Malaysia tariff agreement and the traditionally soft seasonality for June.
"Investor confidence remains under pressure amid a fragile global trade environment, with the 90-day US reciprocal tariff reprieve on countries set to expire in early July (late August for China), and the approaching US debt ceiling deadline in August," it said in a research note today.
HLIB also said the potential market impact from Malaysia's anticipated subsidy rationalisation in the second half of this year, coupled with the expanded sales and service tax (SST) rollout effective July 1, could dampen Malaysia's growth trajectory and cloud corporate earnings visibility in the near term.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank lost seven sen to RM9.70, Public Bank was three sen easier at RM4.26, Tenaga Nasional rose two sen to RM14.28, CIMB declined four sen to RM6.85, IHH Healthcare shed two sen to RM6.88 and CelcomDigi eased three sen to RM3.76.
In active trade, MYEG fell 1.5 sen to 95 sen, Velesto added half-a-sen to 18.5 sen, Tanco accumulated half-a-sen to 96 sen, while Sinaran Advance was flat at 3.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index dropped 82.45 points to 11,362.47, the FBMT 100 Index erased 75.93 points to 11,138.34, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index tumbled 79.34 points to 11,318.17.
The FBM 70 Index slipped 162.47 points to 16,340.19, and the FBM ACE Index declined 72.58 points to 4,452.11.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index firmed 35.38 points to 7,229.12 and the Energy Index garnered 13.83 points to 739.96, while the Industrial Products and Services Index shed 1.29 points to 150.9, and the Financial Services Index dwindled 120.30 points to 17,668.97.
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