KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed at its intraday low for the third consecutive day today, as selling in glove heavyweights intensified in conjunction with the implementation of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme today.
The market barometer also moved in tandem with the downtrend seen in most of regional peers today.
At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) lost 7.50 points, or 0.48 per cent, to 1,557.55 from 1,565.05 at Tuesday’s closing.
The key index opened 5.96 points firmer at 1,571.01 and moved between 1,557.55 and 1,581.55 throughout the day.
Market breadth was negative with losers thumping gainers 995 to 332, while 404 counters were unchanged, 467 untraded and 15 others suspended.
Total volume was higher at 12.70 billion units worth RM7.01 billion compared with 11.45 billion units worth RM5.54 billion on Tuesday.
Among the 30 FBM KLCI constituents, rubber glove makers, namely Top Glove, Hartalega, and Supermax suffered the largest drop as traders believed the vaccine roll-out would curb demand for rubber gloves.
At the close, Top Glove lost 44 sen to RM5.23, Hartalega fell 66 sen to RM10.40 and Supermax declined 41 sen to RM5.04.
Other FBM KLCI counters which were in the red included Telekom which retreated 22 sen to RM6.23 and RHB Bank which was six sen lower at RM5.30.
Of the actives, XOX and its warrant perked up half-a-sen each to 9.5 sen and 2.5 sen respectively, YKGI went up 8.5 sen to 26 sen, Techna-X slipped three sen to 16 sen, while Metronic Global was unchanged at 10.5 sen.
Top losers included Carlsberg which dropped 70 sen to RM23.30, Sam Engineering and Equipment fell 43 sen to RM7.00, and Pharmaniaga declined 36 sen to RM4.40.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index slipped 67.68 points to 11,483.12, the FBMT 100 Index slid 54.57 points to 11,174.26, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 106.41 points lower at 12,872.09.
The FBM 70 lost 78.02 points to 15,351.46 and the FBM ACE dipped 288.26 points to 10,821.09.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index increased 16.92 points to 14,713.74, the Industrial Products and Services Index improved 0.91 of-a-point to 181.49, and the Plantation Index was 17.52 points higher at 7,160.70.
The Healthcare Index, however, slumped 130.24 points to 3,247.91.
The Main Market volume widened to 8.16 billion shares worth RM5.92 billion from 7.07 billion shares worth RM4.48 billion on Tuesday.
Warrants turnover was higher at 504.27 million units valued at RM90.75 million versus 481.72 million units valued at RM69.06 million yesterday.
Volume on the ACE Market increased to 4.03 billion shares worth RM996.19 million against 3.89 billion shares worth RM982.33 million previously.
Consumer products and services accounted for 925.09 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (3.40 billion), construction (271.07 million), technology (1.30 billion), SPAC (nil), financial services (164.41 million), property (478.87 million), plantations (51.92 million), REITs (13.64 million), closed/fund (44,000), energy (1.07 billion), healthcare (219.02 million), telecommunications and media (110.17 million), transportation and logistics (103.62 million), and utilities (41.93 million). — Bernama
