Bursa Malaysia ends higher as trade fears ease
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended higher today, supported by easing concerns over the US-China trade war, following a less confrontational stance from US President Donald Trump.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) climbed 2.68 points or 0.18 per cent to 1,509.20 from Thursday's close of 1,506.52.
Market breadth was positive, with 651 gainers outpacing 325 decliners, while 434 counters were unchanged, 1,008 were untraded and 40 suspended.
Turnover rose to 3.1 billion units valued at RM1.95 billion against Tursday's 3.08 billion units valued at RM2.14 billion.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the local bourse extended its gains amid reduced geopolitical uncertainty, driven by the softer rhetoric from Trump on trade tensions with China.
It noted that the industrial products and services stocks such as Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd lifted the market sentiment.
"The technology sector led gains after heavy selling in early April, while financial stocks traded marginally lower by 0.03 per cent," it added.
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The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
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On Wednesday evening, European Union officials went to bed after hearing US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent say it was 'highly likely' that a pause on Trump's 'reciprocal tariffs' of 50 per cent on EU goods would be extended beyond the July 9 deadline. They awoke on Thursday morning to Trump himself saying he would send letters to countries 'in about a week-and-a-half, two weeks ... telling them what the deal is'. 'At a certain point, we're just going to send letters out. And I think you understand that, saying this is the deal, you can take it or leave it,' Trump said. For Europe, the timing matters. A summit with China is set for July 24, and Brussels insiders have long believed that the outcome of Trump's tariff review would help determine what could be achieved during those crunch talks in Beijing. 'I personally wouldn't be shocked if they meet on July 24 and things have gone in reverse, where you have tariffs on Europe at 50 per cent and tariffs on China at 30 per cent. Can you imagine?' said Deborah Elms, head of trade policy at the Singapore-based Hinrich Foundation. 'It could be anything and you cannot expect to have greater clarity, or assume you are going to end up with a better situation in the future. I would say to the Europeans – and this is very hard to do – but you have to detach US policy from your own self-interest. What is it that will work for you?' While a loosening of China's export controls on rare earth elements would be welcomed in Europe, where companies have been hit by punishments designed for the US, there has not yet been any formal indication that this has happened. 'As far as I know, that has not been communicated to us yet in any structured way,' EU trade spokesman Olof Gill said on Tuesday. Anecdotally, EU business groups said licences were starting to be allocated. 'China understands that it is a weapon that they need to be very cautious [about] using, because it forces both America and Europe to invest massively in their capabilities,' said Jens Eskelund, chair of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China. A lowering of tariffs could help reduce the potential for trade diversion, a downstream impact of Trump's policies that has terrified EU companies. But the broader superpower tensions, Eskelund said, gave Europe a stronger hand when dealing with Beijing. 'No matter how much they actually agree in London, China will seek to decouple from the United States. I think there's so much animosity now that for China, as well as the United States, it is all about reducing dependencies right now,' Eskelund said. 'That is where I think there is a fundamentally different relationship with Europe. You need someone to counterbalance what you lose when you decouple yourself from the United States, and that is where I think, for China, there's a role for Europe to play.' In the meantime, the mood music ahead of the EU-China summit continued to confuse. While Beijing was talking up the potential for positive outcomes, EU officials remained gloomy. Ambassadors from the 27 member states discussed the leaders' summit agenda on Wednesday, with far more negative items floated than issues of cooperation. China's ties with Russia and unbalanced trade are expected to be the EU's top priorities in discussions with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang. On June 23, meanwhile, EU foreign ministers are scheduled to discuss China in the context of European security. 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Borneo Post
an hour ago
- Borneo Post
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Barnama
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