Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (March 8): The FBM KLCI dropped 10.07 points or 0.6% after China's weaker external trade numbers hit Asian share markets.

At 5pm, the KLCI closed at 1,687.86 points. In China, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.73% while the Shanghai Composite erased losses for a 0.14% gain.

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.76% while South Korea's Kospi declined 0.6%.

In Malaysia, JF Apex Securities Bhd research head Lee Chung Cheng told theedgemarkets.com "the market drop today is mainly due to the disappointing data from China".

Reuters reported that China's February exports disappointed analysts' expectations, falling 25.4% from a year earlier, while imports fell by 13.8%.

That left the country with a trade surplus of US$32.59 billion for the month, the General Administration of Customs said on Tuesday. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected exports to fall by 12.5%, and predicted imports would fall by 10%.

Across Bursa Malaysia, 2.01 billion shares worth RM2.07 billion were traded. Decliners overtook gainers at 568 against 286.

The top gainer was Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd while the top decliner was British American Tobacco (M) Bhd.

The most-active counters included Chin Hin Group Bhd and AirAsia X Bhd.

 

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