KUALA LUMPUR, April 8 — Bursa Malaysia closed in the red, as investors pushed a pause button after recording gains for the past two days with sentiment turning negative on increased Covid-19 deaths and infected cases in emerging economies.
At 5pm, key index FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) erased 8.53 points or 0.62 per cent to 1,361.39 from 1,369.92 at Tuesday’s close.
The index opened 3.46 points weaker at 1,366.46 and moved between 1,358.20 and 1,367.16 throughout the day.
Market breadth was negative with losers thumping gainers 617 to 316, while 318 counters were unchanged, 669 untraded and 20 others suspended.
Turnover decreased to 5.36 billion shares worth RM2.66 billion from 6.60 billion shares worth RM3.36 billion at yesterday’s close.
The daily death toll from Covid-19 in the United States surpassed 1,800 as of Tuesday, which marked a new global high for the number of deaths linked to the pandemic in a single day.
Covid-19 fears resulted in the Dow Jones Industrial Index slipping 0.12 per cent to 22,653.86, S&P 500 falling 0.16 per cent to 2,659.41, while Nasdaq Composite slipping 0.33 per cent to 7,887.26.
On the local front, the closure of six plantation areas in Sabah—Tawau, Lahad Datu, Kinabatangan, Kunak, Semporna and Kalabakan—caused losses for the plantation companies.
Sime Darby Plantation declined 29 sen to RM4.76, KLK erased 56 sen to RM20.70 and PPB gave up 42 sen to RM16.26. Altogether, they contributed 5.817 points to the losses in composite index.
Sabah is Malaysia’s largest palm oil-producing state, accounting for 25 per cent of the total production volume last year.
Prolonged shutdown is a lost social-economic opportunity, as a commodity like palm oil is one of the few sectors that can keep the economic momentum of the state running in the current downturn, plantation associations said.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank rose four sen to RM7.87, IHH added two sen to RM5.14, while Tenaga shed 26 sen to RM11.94 and Public Bank was eight sen weaker at RM15.82.
Among top gainers, Shangri-La jumped 29 sen to RM4.59, Rapid added 28 sen to RM6.08 and Allianz-Pa gained 20 sen to RM12.80.
Meanwhile, the most active counters were dominated by construction and energy stocks.
Ekovest up 1.5 sen to 46 sen, Gamuda-We improved 2.5 sen to 14.5 sen and Hibiscus Petroleum was three sen easier at 50.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index depreciated 66.44 points to 9,411.27, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 61.06 points to 9,306.71 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index erased 80.10 points to 10,322.45.
The FBM 70 gave up 83.71 points to 11,000.49 and the FBM ACE contracted 147.23 points to 4,085.67.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index slipped 17.83 points to 12,398.47, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.11 of-a-point to 109.22, and the Plantation Index was 176.05 points weaker at 6,175.76.
Main Market volume narrowed to 3.99 billion shares valued at RM2.43 billion from 4.63 billion shares valued at RM3.02 billion on Tuesday.
Warrants turnover fell to 329.02 million units worth RM65.62 million versus 479.01 million units worth RM103.88 million.
Volume on the ACE Market decreased to 1.04 billion shares valued at RM161.31 million from 1.49 billion shares valued at RM236.29 million.
Consumer products and services accounted for 501.01 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (514.43 million), construction (900.95 million), technology (315.66 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (56.36 million), property (456.40 million), plantations (97.34 million), REITs (11.99 million), closed/fund (10,000), energy (884.57 million), healthcare (30.66 million), telecommunications and media (88.36 million), transportation and logistics (99.19 million), and utilities (33.72 million). — Bernama
