20 hours ago
FBM KLCI marginally higher at midday as tariff anxieties weigh on gobal markets
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian benchmark stock index was little changed at midday after paring earlier gains as anxiety grew over the impact of US tariffs on global trade and economic growth.
As regional markets turned lower, the FBM KLCI managed to stay positive, albeit a marginal 0.67 points at 1,540.05.
The biggest lift was seen in stocks such as Press Metal up 13 sen to RM5.48, PETRONAS Chemicals gaining 17 sne to RM3.78, PETRONAS Dagangan up 18 sen to RM21.62 and Sunway rising six sen to RM4.88.
IOI Corp, meanwhile, weighed on the index after falling 11 sen to RM3.76 and Nestle shed 70 sen to RM87.30 following the recent rally.
Outside of the blue chips, however, sentiment was dour with the number of declining issues nearly double the the number of advancing. Trading volume was 2.25 billion shares valued at RM1.08bil.
Some stand out performancer included British American Tobacco , surging 33 sen to RM4.90 following a positive quarterly result.
Westports jumped seven sen to RM5.69 while Malayan Cement climbed seven sen to RM5.41.
Of actives, Focus was down 0.5 sen to 0.5 sen. ACE Market debutant Oxford Innotech ended 9.5 sen higher at 38.5 sen, while Ekovest slumped 5.5 sen to 38.5 sen following the failure of its merger with Knusford.
In key Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei was down 0.95% to 26,154 and South Korea's Kospi rose 0.65% to 3,230. China's composite index was 0.01% down to 3,595 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng slid 0.95% to 25,319.
