KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia contracted further at the close today, weighed down by selling pressure in heavyweight counters.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) lost 12.58 points to 1,575.67 from yesterday’s close of 1,588.25.
The benchmark index opened 3.73 points higher at 1,591.98 and moved between 1,575.38 and 1,592.18 throughout the day.
Market breadth remained negative with losers trumping gainers 811 to 299, while 416 counters remained unchanged, 628 untraded and five others suspended.
Total volume fell to 7.37 billion shares worth RM4.24 billion from 7.48 billion shares worth RM4.13 billion on Tuesday.
A dealer said Asian markets were mixed today, as sentiments were dampened by the escalating Covid-19 cases.
Singapore’s Straits Times Index eased 0.80 percent to 3,153.61, South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.64 percent to 3,147.37, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.49 per cent to 28,417.98.
On the domestic front, he said Bursa Malaysia started the day in positive territory, but turned negative from midday onwards.
Meanwhile, Bank Islam chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said banking-related stocks were down as overall investor sentiment remained cautious ahead of the overnight policy rate (OPR) announcement by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) tomorrow.
He said BNM is expected to keep the OPR unchanged at 1.75 percent at the meeting tomorrow.
“The main reason is none other than uncertainties over the pace of the economic recovery, which is likely to be uneven.
“External demand appears to be gaining good traction during the first quarter of 2021 (Q1 2021) with nominal exports growing by more than 18 percent, leading to more than 56 percent growth in net exports,“ he said to Bernama.
However, he said the same cannot be said for the services-oriented industries, where strict adherence to standard operating procedures will likely have a negative impact on economic activities.
“So the central bank is expected to remain at status quo tomorrow in light of the incoming information which points to inconsistencies in the pace of economic recovery,“ he said.
Of the banking-related stocks, Maybank eased three sen to RM8.21, Public Bank fell one sen to RM4.11, CIMB lost five sen to RM4.06, HLBank slid 12 sen to RM17.66, RHB shed eight sen to RM5.15 and HLFG slipped 14 sen to RM16.48.
Among the heavyweights, PetChem reduced two sen to RM8.16, TNB dropped seven sen to RM9.90, IHH contracted six sen to RM5.20 and Top Glove shrank 13 sen to RM5.32.
Of the actives, Focus Dynamics erased half-a-sen to 10 sen, Sedania gained seven sen to 30.5 sen and Dagang Nexchange rose 1.5 sen to 69.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 96.34 points lower at 11,604.84, the FBM Emas Shariah Index dipped 128.43 points to 13,005.89, the FBMT 100 Index fell 92.16 points to 11,256.40, the FBM 70 contracted 133.97 points to 15,281.61, and the FBM ACE lost 157.46 points to 8,469.94.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index decreased 0.94 of-a-point to 198.29, the Plantation Index weakened by 75.16 points to 6,916.85, and the Financial Services Index eased 83.06 points to 14,756.16.
Main Market volume fell to 4.53 billion shares worth RM3.39 billion compared with 4.63 billion shares worth RM3.23 billion on Tuesday.
Warrants turnover increased to 350.10 million units valued at RM35.01 million from 311.09 million units valued at RM37.8 million previously.
Volume on the ACE Market declined to 2.49 billion shares worth RM812.4 million from 2.54 billion shares worth RM858.9 million yesterday.
Consumer products and services accounted for 389.12 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.67 billion), construction (110.24 million), technology (727.89 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (42.62 million), property (369.94 million), plantation (136.35 million), REITs (3.26 million), closed/fund (11,000), energy (688.18 million), healthcare (73.35 million), telecommunications and media (91.92 million), transportation and logistics (204.84 million), and utilities (19.18 million). — Bernama
