KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 11 — Bursa Malaysia was negative in early trade today ahead of a key announcement by the government on action to be taken to deal with the recent spike in Covid-19 cases.

At 9.15am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 20.50 points to 1,612.69 after losing 5.97 points to 1,627.22 at opening compared with Friday’s close of 1,633.19.

On the broader market, losers trounced gainers 645 to 168, while 1,090 counters were unchanged, 181 untraded and 13 others suspended.

Total volume stood at 1.29 billion units worth RM8.42 million.

Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin will make a special announcement today on measures to be implemented by the government to stem the rising Covid-19 cases in the country.

Malacca Securities said all heads will turn to the Covid-19 public health measures that are expected to be more stringent.

"With the prospects of the economic recovery remain clouded by the rising number of Covid-19 cases, we think that the lower liners may continue to remain under pressure over the near term on mounting concerns over the disruption of supply chain with numerous factories and retail outlets were temporarily closed,” it said in a note today.

The research house believes gains in gloves heavyweights will continue as investors feared of another round of lockdown imposed nationwide or in certain states.

"We remain upbeat on the healthcare sector as resumption of buying activities may prolong on the rising concern over the surging Covid-19 cases nationwide. At the same time, the surging crude oil prices will provide further uplift into the energy sector,” it added.

On the other hand, a lead from Wall Street is upbeat as stocks finished the first week of 2021 to record high as all Dow climbed higher amid investors’ hope for more political stability and trillions of dollar stimulus packages demanded by the President-elect Joe Biden.

Among the heavyweights, 33 counters were in the red led by Maybank and Press Metal, which were down 23 sen each to RM8.17 and RM8.17, respectively.

PetChem dropped 20 sen to RM7.36, TNB dropped 22 sen to RM10.30 and CIMB lost 12 sen to RM3.99.

In contrast, KLK added 66 sen to RM24.66 and IHH rose seven sen to RM5.68.

Of the actives, AT Syetematization was flat at 19 sen, Iris trimmed 1.5 sen to 34 sen and Priceworth was unchanged at 2.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 143.68 points to 11,493.77, the FBMT 100 Index narrowed 143.52 points to 11,264.29, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index depreciated 135.97 points to 13,017.97.

The FBM 70 slashed 183.49 points to 14,304.62 and the FBM ACE fell 127.27 points to 10,370.14.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index weakened 221.84 points to 14,786.27 and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 3.11 points to 171.47, while the Plantation Index increased 30.90 points to 7,449.19. — Bernama