KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended in the negative territory today as the ACE market index recorded a sharp decline with most counters in the red, as the market was weighed by intensified pressure on Budget 2021 voting as well as rising concerns on Covid-19.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) meanwhile was also in the red, declining 1.19% or 19.09 points to end at 1,578.39 from yesterday’s close of 1,597.48.
Losers overwhelmed gainers by 1,093 to 250, while 321 counters were unchanged, 512 untraded and 24 others suspended.
Total volume stood at 8.36 billion shares worth RM4.28 billion.
The ACE market index declined 5.34% as it continued to be heavily influenced by local developments as well as lack of foreign investors’ confidence.
An analyst said that the downturn was expected to continue until Thursday despite better global outlook as well as firmer oil price.
“Businesses rely on the allocation set in the Budget 2021 especially on development expenditure, and without this, the industry would be lacklustre,“ she said.
Concerns over the passing of the budget have been on the rise since several members of the ruling coalition had voiced their disapproval of the budget which was tabled on Nov 6 and will be voted on this Thursday (Nov 26).
She added that the pressure on the FBM KLCI was mainly due to Top Glove Corp, following the closure of its manufacturing facilities due to the high number of Covid-19 cases among its workers, which pushed the benchmark index down by 8.87 points.
“Other index components have also experienced a sell down but these were marginal. This was due to the exit of foreign investment as well as repositioning by institutional investors,“ she said.
Categorically, technology counters saw the highest outflow, with the index falling by 2.83%.
Among the 30 FBM KLCI constituents, Top Glove shed 55 sen to RM6.80, Petronas Dagangan declined RM1.10 to RM21.00, Hartalega declined 28 sen to RM14.18 and Press Metal Aluminium dipped 20 sen to RM6.10.
As for actives, Pegasus Heights was flat at 3.0 sen, while AT Systematization shed 1.5 sen to 15.5 sen and Sapura Energy inched down half-a-sen to 11.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 164.95 points lower at 11,325.72, the FBMT 100 Index slipped 158.89 points to 11,115.69, the FBM Emas Shariah Index reduced 256.38 points to 13,013.26 and the FBM 70 trimmed 302.84 points to 14,273.73.
Meanwhile, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 2.20 points lower at 157.68, the Plantation Index dipped 73.03 points to 7,268.33, while the Financial Services Index marginally slipped 0.32 of-a-point to 13,970.42.
The Main Market volume declined to 4.23 billion units worth RM3.31 billion from 5.24 billion units worth RM3.15 billion on Monday.
Warrants turnover decreased to 526.34 million shares worth RM88.62 million from 567.88 million shares worth RM104.53 million yesterday.
Volume on the ACE Market narrowed to 3.20 billion shares worth RM880.76 million from yesterday’s 3.60 billion shares worth RM1.25 billion.
Consumer products and services accounted for 844.34 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.24 billion), construction (177.07 million), technology (454.98 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (64.45 million), property (492.41 million), plantations (87.22 million), REITs (9.68 million), closed/fund (40,900), energy (858.56 million), healthcare (135.64 million), telecommunications and media (38.74 million), transportation and logistics (156.73 million), and utilities (63.87 million). — Bernama
