KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 4 — Bursa Malaysia ended the first trading day of 2021 on a weak note, with its key index struggling to remain above the 1,600-level.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 24.64 points to finish at 1,602.57, dragged down by heavy selling in the heavyweights, led by the glove maker counters.

The index had moved between 1,593.12 and 1,629.17 throughout the day.

The overall market breadth was negative with losers outpacing gainers 933 to 359, while 333 counters were unchanged, 457 untraded and 12 others suspended.

Total volume increased to 7.42 billion unit shares worth RM5.89 billion from 5.51 billion units worth RM3.11 billion last Thursday.

Bursa Malaysia was closed last Friday for the New Year’s Day holiday. 

A dealer said the positive development on the Covid-19 vaccines, slated to be ready by the first quarter of 2021, pushed investors to cut their holdings on rubber glove stocks.

He said the cutback was also due to the Securities Commission Malaysia and Bursa Malaysia Bhd’s decision to lift the temporary suspension on the Regulated Short Selling, which made glove maker counters among the targeted stocks.

Hartalega fell RM1.66 to RM10.48, Top Glove lost 62 sen to RM5.50, and Supermax gave up 50 sen for RM5.51.

These stocks were the biggest losers among the 30-index constituents on Bursa Malaysia, dragging the composite index down by a combined 23.26 points.

As for the other heavyweights, Maybank fell 11 sen to RM8.35, Public Bank shed eight sen to RM20.52, and Petronas Chemicals reduced 22 sen to RM7.21.

However, Tenaga rose four sen to RM10.46 and IHH Healthcare gained two sen to RM5.52.

Among the actives, Dynaciate added one sen to 14 sen, Niche bagged four sen to 28 sen, while Sapura Energy and AT Systematization were flat at 12.5 sen and 18.5 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 152.47 points lower at 11,606.46, the FBMT 100 Index contracted 157.83 points to 11,344.16, the FBM Emas Shariah Index erased 215.75 points to 12,943.4, and the FBM 70 weakened 144.3 points to 14,998.54.

Meanwhile, the FBM ACE improved 58.64 points to 10,793.34.   

The Plantation Index bagged 26.66 points to 7,329.5, while the Financial Services Index lost 74.64 points to 15,241.91 and the Industrial Products and Services Index shed 2.66 points to 175.45.

The Main Market volume decreased to 4.72 billion shares worth RM5.18 billion from Thursday’s 3.27 billion shares worth RM2.47 billion.

Warrants turnover dwindled to 568.69 million units valued at RM79.52 million from 295.04 million units valued at RM50.30 million.

Volume on the ACE Market went down to 2.13 billion shares worth RM627.76 million from 1.94 billion shares worth RM588.22 million previously.

Consumer products and services accounted for 832.59 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.21 billion), construction (356.71 million), technology (254.63 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (55.26 million), property (374.72 million), plantations (70.88 million), REITs (17.4 million), closed/fund (100), energy (765.7 million), healthcare (508.8 million), telecommunications and media (94.47 million), transportation and logistics (111.43 million), and utilities (65.65 million). — Bernama