KUALA LUMPUR (June 25): The FBM KLCI opened at its intra-day high of 1707.02 points today, but it went downhill from there as investors remained wary about the threat of the trade war between the two economic giants, US and China.

At 5pm, the benchmark index settled at an intra-day low of 1678.10 points, down 16.05 points or 0.95%.

When contacted, Areca Capital Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Danny Wong told theedgemarkets.com that the KLCI was dragged mainly by the banking sector today, which saw CIMB Group Holdings Bhd leading the fall.

The counter closed down 41 sen or 7.06% to settle at RM5.40, after seeing some 37.48 million shares done. It was the sixth most actively traded stock and the third largest loser on Bursa Malaysia today.

“Aside from banking stocks like CIMB and Maybank (Malayan Banking Bhd), some telcos also fell, including Telekom Malaysia Bhd, Axiata Group Bhd and DiGi.Com Bhd. Mainly because sentiment was bad, partly due to the US-China trade war,” he said.

“The KLCI is in line with the regional market today, which will still be dogged by trade war rhetoric in the short term until it is resolved, one of the parties (US or China) has to retreat,” he added.

Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.79% today, Hong Kong Hang Seng Index also declined 1.29%, while the South Korean Kospi gained 0.03%.

Bursa Malaysia saw 520 losers versus 298 gainers, while 406 counters remained unchanged. Total trading volume stood at 2.04 billion shares, worth some RM1.97 billion.

British American Tobacco (M) Bhd was the biggest loser, while the biggest gainer was structured put warrants that tracked the Hang Seng Index, HSI-H4N.

Sapura Energy Bhd was the most actively traded counter, with 195.4 million shares done.