KUALA LUMPUR (April 7): Eighteen counters were hit with intraday short-selling suspensions, after their share prices breached thresholds, amid heavy selling in the stock market on Monday.

Intraday short-selling activities are suspended when the last price of approved securities falls below the daily limit. The daily limit is 15% for stocks priced above RM1, and 15 sen for stocks below RM1.

The short-selling suspension for the 18 counters will be lifted at 8.30am on Tuesday.

Of the 18 counters affected, eight were from the technology sector, including UWC Bhd (KL:UWC), Inari Amertron Bhd (KL:INARI), Pentamaster Corporation Bhd (KL:PENTA), ViTrox Corp Bhd (KL:VITROX), Greatech Technology Bhd (KL:GREATEC), Genetec Technology Bhd (KL:GENETEC), Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd (KL:MPI), and HeiTech Padu Bhd (KL:HTPADU).

Meanwhile, four stocks were in the energy sector — Dialog Group Bhd (KL:DIALOG), Dayang Enterprise Holdings Bhd (KL:DAYANG), Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd (KL:HIBISCS), and Yinson Holdings Bhd (KL:YINSON).

The remaining counters with short-selling suspension in place are Guan Chong Bhd (KL:GCB), Pavilion Real Estate Investment Trust or Pavilion REIT (KL:PAVREIT), Eco World Development Group Bhd (KL:ECOWLD), PMB Technology Bhd (KL:PMBTECH), NationGate Holdings Bhd (KL:NATGATE), and Suria Capital Holdings Bhd (KL:SURIA).

UWC dropped as much as 21.1% to RM1.57, while Inari fell over 20% to RM1.50. Pentamaster declined 20.8% to RM1.98, ViTrox plunged 16.2% to RM2.28, Greatech tumbled 19% to RM1.15, Genetec fell 19.2% to 90.5 sen, MPI slid 16.4% to RM14.34, and HeiTech Padu shed 16.6% to RM1.75.

The sell-off in technology counters extended last Friday’s losses, driven by concerns that the semiconductor sector could still be targeted by future US trade actions, despite having "luckily escaped" the latest round of broad tariffs.

The sharp drop nearly wiped out the technology sector’s 38% gain recorded since the start of 2024. The Bursa Malaysia Technology Index fell 13.6% to close at 40.34 points on Monday.

As for the energy counters, Dialog plunged over 16% to RM1.20, Dayang dropped 15.1% to RM1.52, Hibiscus declined 15.3% to RM1.38, and Yinson fell 16.7% to RM1.80.

Elsewhere, Guan Chong fell 17.3% to RM2.97, Pavilion REIT dropped 17% before rebounding to trade 5.44% lower at RM1.39 per unit, EcoWorld declined more than 15% to RM1.55, and Suria fell as much as 16.9% to RM1.47.

NationGate sank more than 18% to RM1.02, while PMB Technology declined 17.2% to RM1.20.

The weakness was part of a broader market rout, with 1,296 losers out of 1,588 stocks traded on the local stock exchange, fuelled by global trade war fears.

Five indices tracking various stocks on the exchange saw a drop of more than 1,000 points at Monday's close. This included the FBM 70 — which tracks the 70 largest stocks on the exchange — which was down 1175.30 points or 7.41% to 14,675.87 points, and the FBM Small Cap — which tracks Main Market-listed small caps — which was down 1150.83 points or 7.63% to 13,932.44 points.

The other indices were FBM Fledging, FBM MidS Cap and FBM MidS Cap Shariah.