KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 — Bursa Malaysia finished lower today as energy counters retreated at the close of trading after recording steady gains in the early session.
At 5pm, the Energy Index was down 0.99 per cent with 1.63 billion shares traded.
The Healthcare Index, meanwhile, saw a positive momentum throughout the day, driven by a steady increase in pharmaceutical stock prices, while glove maker counters witnessed a retreat, especially constituents of the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI).
The main index was down 8.95 points to 1,586.98 compared with yesterday’s close of 1,595.93.
On the broader market, losers edged winners 557 to 510 while 403 were unchanged, 510 untraded and 19 others suspended.
Total volume was 9.37 billion shares worth RM4.89 billion.
An analyst said with vaccine optimism on the rise, pharmaceutical stocks were expected to see a hike while energy counters retreated following the decline in overnight oil price.
“Energy counters are known as a ‘fast-pace trade’ equity where investors make the decision into investing or exiting the market in a short time due to the volatile environment,” she daid.
Asked if the retreat of glove maker stocks marked the end of their bull run, she said the decline was mainly due to profit taking as the counters had seen an exponential hike in the past five months.
“Malaysia remains the world’s biggest glove supplier and despite vaccine optimism, the demand for gloves will remain high due to the increase in usage across all sectors,” she said.
From the technical forefront, she said that the FBM KLCI would continue to face difficulty in breaching the 1,600 immediate resistance due to the lack of domestic catalysts to push the market higher.
On stocks’ performance, blue-chip Hartalega witnessed a market pullback as it declined 62 sen to RM17.38, Top Glove slipped 24 sen to RM24.70, IHH declined seven sen to RM5.39, Dialog fell four sen to RM3.76 and Petronas Gas slid 22 sen to RM16.08 in line with the decline in energy counters.
Among the top gainers, Pharmaniaga remained in number one spot with an increase of RM1.05 to RM4.55 while Duopharma gained 68 sen to RM2.96, Kotra added 82 sen to RM3.57 and Apex was up 91 sen to RM3.97.
Of the actives, Sapura Energy was flat at 10 sen sen, while newcomer Sarawak-based oil and gas company, Ocean Vantage, rose 27 sen to 53 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index edged down 42.46 points to 11,260.29, the FBMT 100 index declined 50.23 points to 11,100.68 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 0.03 of-a-point weaker at 13,061.54.
The FBM 70 inched down 14.97 points to 14,157.08 and the FBM ACE was 51.91 points better at 7,674.04.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index slipped 52.56 points to 13,434.71, the Plantation Index strengthened 57.40 points to 7,032.39 and the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.81 of-a-point to 139.87.
Main Market volume rose to 5.61 billion shares worth RM3.94 billion from yesterday’s 5.01 billion shares worth RM4.46 billion.
Warrants turnover, meanwhile, declined to 544.67 million units worth RM176.49 million from Tuesday’s 669.08 million units worth RM275.37.
Volume on the ACE Market slipped to 3.21 billion shares worth RM770.20 million from 3.66 billion shares worth RM650.10 million yesterday.
Consumer products and services accounted for 607.01 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.16 billion), construction (201.65 million), technology (453.35 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (49.28 million), property (482.01 million), plantations (126.75 million), REITs (8.64 million), closed/fund (67,000), energy (1.63 billion), healthcare (241.72 million), telecommunications and media (59.23 million), transportation and logistics (566.01 million) and utilities (22.95 million). — Bernama
