KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 6 — Bursa Malaysia closed lower today dragged down by selling in selected heavyweights amid weak market sentiment brought about by concerns over the high local daily Covid-19 cases.

However, the announcement that several states have transitioned from Phase Two to Phase Three of the National Recovery Plan (NRP) has helped to cushion the downtrend.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shed 5.98 points to end the day at 1,489.80 compared with Thursday’s close of 1,495.78.

The market bellwether, which opened 0.92 points easier at 1,494.86, fluctuated between 1,486.05 and 1,498.59 throughout the session.

Market breadth was almost even with gainers edging losers 496 to 495, while 431 counters were unchanged, 771 untraded, and 11 others suspended.

Turnover decreased to 4.29 billion units worth RM2.53 billion from 4.69 billion units valued at RM2.42 billion on Thursday.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said the FBM KLCI closed 0.4 per cent lower in tandem with most regional peers as concerns from the Covid-19 Delta variant, which might dent economic recovery prospects, dampened investor sentiment during the day.

Citing the World Health Organisation, he said the global number of Covid-19 cases have surpassed 200 million cases.

"China has imposed mobility restrictions to curb the spread of the Delta variant, including cancelling flights and halt train services,” he told Bernama.

Malaysia recorded 20,889 new Covid-19 infections today — the highest daily total since the pandemic struck the country in February last year.

On further scrutiny, Adam said losers on the FBM KLCI were mainly dominated by glove counters, namely Hartalega and Top Glove, which dropped 2.1 per cent and 2.4 per cent respectively.

Following this, the Bursa Malaysia Healthcare Index was the biggest loser among sectoral indices as it fell 1.2 per cent during the day.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank lost six sen to RM7.98, Public Bank slid two sen to RM3.94, Petronas Chemicals slipped one sen to RM7.99, Tenaga erased 11 sen to RM9.61, while CIMB was flat at RM4.55.

IHH, however, picked up two sen to RM5.74.

Among the actives, Dagang NeXchange rose seven sen to 82.5 sen, Kanger inched down half-a-sen to six sen, Serba Dinamik added half-a-sen to 40 sen, while Vsolar was flat at 1.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 26.64 points lower at 10,954.1, FBMT 100 Index fell 31.22 points to 10,663.63, and FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 32.78 points to 12,035.95,

However, the FBM 70 gained 2.18 points to 14,559.18 and the FBM ACE bagged 3.66 points to 7,175.98.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index lost 52.39 points to 14,704.46, while the Plantation Index improved 27.53 points to 6,125.45, and the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.65 of-a-point to 188.69.

Main Market volume increased to 2.85 billion shares worth RM2.15 billion from 2.05 billion shares valued at RM1.92 billion on Thursday.

Warrants turnover widened to 274.24 million units worth RM33.83 million compared with yesterday’s 264.48 million units valued at RM38.71 million

Volume on the ACE Market decreased sharply to 1.16 billion shares worth RM349.35 million against 2.38 billion shares valued at RM465.89 million previously.

Consumer products and services accounted for 427.13 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.08 billion), construction (130.76 million), technology (501.88 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (64.55 million), property (255.99 million), plantation (25.25 million), REITs (5.35 million), closed/fund (18,000), energy (155.49 million), healthcare (65.96 million), telecommunications and media (28.77 million), transportation and logistics (78.07 million), and utilities (33.28 million). — Bernama