KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 30 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session lower as market sentiments were affected by concerns on the economic impact of the Novel Coronavirus, which originated from Wuhan, China.
At lunch break, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,548.32, down by 2.15 points from yesterday’s close of 1,550.47.
After opening 0.78 of-a-point better at 1,551.25, the local index moved between 1,540.71 and 1,551.25 throughout the morning trading session.
Market breadth was negative with decliners trumping gainers 496 to 255, while 340 counters remained unchanged, 900 untraded and 76 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.49 billion shares worth RM988.48 million.
In a note, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said investors remained cautious on the economic impact from the Coronavirus outbreak.
“With the lack of fresh leads, we reckon that the key index will continue to trade in a downward bias with the key index already re-testing the 1,550 key support level.
“A fall beyond the aforementioned level will see the key index tumbling to a fresh four-year low towards the 1,535 level or even the 1,500 psychological level. Any recovery is expected to be insignificant with gains limited towards the 1,575 for the time being,” it added.
The decline in the FBM KLCI was also in line with regional stocks, as Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 1.72 per cent to 26,693.06, Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell by 0.56 per cent to 3,164.66 and the Jakarta Composite Index eased by 0.36 per cent to 6,090.93.
Among the heavyweights on Bursa Malaysia, Maybank gained four sen to RM8.49, Public Bank declined six sen to RM18.94, Tenaga fell four sen to RM12.52 and Petronas Chemicals was 11 sen lower at RM6.47.
Of the actives, RGB International rose 2.5 sen to 20 sen, while Xidelang was flat at 17 sen and MTouche eased half-a-sen to 18.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 22.45 points lower at 11,057.17 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 41.92 points to 11,742.36.
The FBMT 100 Index declined 19.79 points to 10,850.83, the FBM 70 lost 44.73 points to 13,948.56 and the FBM Ace erased 5.19 points to 5,630.60.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 1.07 points to 147.46, the Financial Services Index was 4.81 points higher at 14,918.97 and the Plantation Index shed 26.99 points to 7,187.21. — Bernama
