Malaysia's Stock Market Ends Sharply Lower

By HARIZAH HANIM MOHAMED KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 29 (Bernama) – The Malaysian stock market (Bursa Malaysia) finished sharply lower on Tuesday as the latest update on North Korea-US sent shock waves through the market. At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell by 8.35 points, or 0.42 per cent, to 1,761.14 after moving between 1,756.92 and 1,767.23 throughout the day. The index opened 2.62 points lower at 1,766.87 from Monday’s close of 1,769.49. Market breadth was negative with losers beating gainers by 622 to 274, with 337 counters unchanged, 591 untraded and 58 others were suspended. Volume fell for the second day to 1.45 billion worth RM1.83 billion from 1.78 billion worth RM1.65 billion on Monday. Inter-Pacific Securities Sdn Bhd Head of Research, Pong Teng Siew, said markets across Asia held back due to the latest development between US and North Korea. “It is a bad time for the stock market as it is wary of (the potential of war) … they worried about the actual military action that might be taken,” he told Bernama. Earlier, a North Korean missile fired over the northern island of Hokkaido, Japan and broke into three pieces before falling into the Pacific Ocean. Later today, US President Donald Trump and Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed to increase pressures on North Korea. It was reported that both leaders agreed to call for an emergency meeting of the United Nation Security Council to discuss the situation. Most of the heavyweights were traded in the red with Maybank leading the list. It fell 14 sen to RM9.46, CIMB erased eight sen to RM5.91, Sime dropped nine sen to RM9 and PetGas eased three sen to RM18.34. Of the losers, MPI declined 38 sen to RM13.70, AeonCR fell 36 sen to RM12.34, TimeCom erased 26 sen to RM9.40 while DLady and Panamy both eased two sen to RM59 and RM38.5, respectively. -- BERNAMA