KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 28 ― All listed indexes on Bursa Malaysia continues to be in red territory amid continuing political upheaval in the country, dragging all indexes down at lunch break due to heavy selling activities.

As of 12.30pm, FBM Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 1.47 per cent or 22.16 points lower at 1,483.43, after opening at 20.69 points lower at 9 am sharp.

On the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 1,054 to 72 with 168 counters unchanged, 749 untraded and 65 suspended.

Turnover spiked to 2.93 billion shares worth RM1.83 billion compared with 346.67 million shares worth RM161.85 million at the opening today.

Selling was persistent in energy, construction, technology, logistics counters and the ACE market as well as small and medium-sized caps stocks.

Energy and construction sectors were the worst-hit as the fate of ongoing, newly announced as well as revived infrastructure projects hang in the balance due to the ongoing political crisis.

Malaysian Refining was the top loser for the energy sector, shedding 30 sen to RM4.50, while KESM emerged as the biggest loser for the technology sector, losing 65 sen to RM8.70.

The Conference of Rulers meets today with issues related to the country’s current political impasse expected to dominate their discussions today.

“With the emergency parliament sitting conducted this coming Monday (March 2), the probability of a snap election has increased as several political factions have stated their desire for the parliament to be dissolved,” said an analyst.

On the key index performance, 27 out of 30 stocks listed recorded a decline with Maybank shedding seven sen to RM8.45, Tenaga Nasional declining 16 sen to RM12.34, MISC as it slipped 14 sen to RM7.62, Petronas Chemicals slid 27 sen to RM5.53, PPB as it shed 24 sen to RM18.06 and Maxis lost 10 sen to RM5.41.

On the index board, all were painted in the red with the FBM Emas Index declined 222.76 points to 10,461.91, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 1699.82 points to 10,289.39 and the FBM ACE shed 362.85 points to 5,222.27.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 271.99 points to 11,082.79 and the FBM 70 declined 439.21 points to 12,789.70.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased by 5.90 points at 132.73, while the Financial Services Index slid 148.73 points to 14,344.93 while the Plantation Index slipped 146.99 points to 6,806.47. ― Bernama