KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 — Kuala Lumpur shares witnessed a sharp drop across the board today as investors recalibrated their portfolio pending the tabling of the 2021 Budget next Friday.
At the close today, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) dropped 28.31 points or 1.89 per cent to 1,466.89 after opening 0.89 of-a-point lower at 1,494.31.
Decliners trounced advancers 1,033 to 203, while 309 counters were unchanged, 604 untraded and 80 others suspended.
Total volume rose to 5.90 billion shares worth RM3.90 billion from last Wednesday’s 4.66 billion shares worth RM3.43 billion.
ACE Market stocks continued their downtrend with the sectoral index dipping 3.84 per cent, while the telecommunications, technology, and energy sectors were the biggest losers, slipping 2.5 per cent, 2.3 per cent and 2.16 per cent, respectively.
An analyst said that the decline in the overall market was due to recalibration by investors pending the upcoming budget, as well as calls for fresh elections to be held once the Covid-19 pandemic is under control.
“This has raised the level of uncertainty in the local market, hampering investors from coming in and causing a high level of outflow especially from foreign investors,” she said.
On a sectoral basis, she said the decline in technology was in line with the dip in NASDAQ futures on renewed concerns that the big firms recorded sharp decline in their third-quarter results.
As for energy, she said the decline was mainly on concerns of pandemic resurgence in the US and Europe, which has crippled the demand for auto and aviation fuel.
As at 5.30pm, benchmark Brent crude stood at US$37.68 per barrel.
“With parts of Europe now under movement control, global economic recovery is facing a rough patch with dimmed outlook for the rest of 2020,” she said.
On the heavyweight counters, 27 out of 30 index constituents were in the red, two were flat and only Dialog bucked the trend adding one sen to RM3.70.
Public Bank (PBBank) led the decliners as it shed 60 sen to RM15.08, Top Glove slipped 21 sen to RM8.57, Tenaga Nasional slid 24 sen to RM9.54, and Kuala Lumpur Kepong (KLK) dipped RM1.18 to RM21.22.
KLK and PBBank were also among the biggest losers together with Nestle which slipped RM1.20 to RM139.40 and BLD Plantation fell 99 sen to RM7.21.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index erased 207.05 points to 10,613.58, the FBMT 100 Index was 199.25 points lower at 10,432.63 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 236.67 points to 12,741.68.
The FBM 70, meanwhile, slipped 259.05 points to 13,985.09, while the Financial Services Index lost 251.42 points to 12,009.39 and the Plantation Index declined 120.66 points to 6,801.90.
Meanwhile, the industrial products and services index eased 2.70 points to 141.14.
The Main Market volume doubled to 5.90 billion shares worth RM3.90 billion from Wednesday’s 2.47 billion worth RM2.75 billion.
Warrants turnover declined slightly to 724.08 million units worth RM158.25 million from 746.48 million units worth RM188.71 million.
Volume on the ACE Market rose to 1.80 billion shares worth RM560.49 million compared with 1.44 billion shares worth RM496.64 million on Wednesday.
Consumer products and services accounted for 542.42 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (878.80 million), construction (192.40 million), technology (413.16 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (73.66 million), property (303.78 million), plantations (48.08 million), REITs (9.35 million), closed/fund (17,500), energy (294.46 million), healthcare (89.28 million), telecommunications and media (146.97 million), transportation and logistics (268.55 million), and utilities (77.61 million).
The market was closed yesterday for the Maulidur Rasul public holiday. — Bernama
