KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 19 — Bursa Malaysia ended at its intraday low today, weighed down by technology, consumer products and healthcare stocks led by Petronas Dagangan (PetDag) and Supermax.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 7.64 points to 1,601.88 from 1,609.52 at yesterday’s close.
The index opened 1.54 points higher at 1,611.06 and moved between 1,601.88 and 1,618.41 throughout the session.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 624 to 497, while 481 counters were unchanged, 494 untraded and 13 others suspended.
Total volume was higher at 6.8 billion units worth RM4.82 billion from 5.85 billion units worth RM4.06 billion yesterday.
Bxnk Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said the FBM KLCI continued to slide further today by 0.5 per cent while regional peers namely South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong recorded gains, taking cue from China’s economic recovery from the pandemic which was reflected in its full-year gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 2.3 per cent in 2020.
“Major decliners among the FBM KLCI constituents were rubber glove counters namely Top Glove, Hartalega and Supermax, all of which dropped by more than 1.0 per cent during the day.
“As a result, the Bursa Malaysia Healthcare index slumped by 2.1 per cent, making it the biggest laggard among sectors,” he told Bernama.
Aside from that, Adam said most banking stocks were either unchanged for the day or saw a drop ahead of tomorrow’s Bank Negara Malaysia’s policy meeting where it will decide to maintain or cut the overnight policy rate (OPR).
“Any further cut in the OPR would be unfavourable for banking stocks as it could exert downward pressure on the profitability of the banks,” said Adam.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank increased two sen to RM8.10 and PChem gained 23 sen to RM7.51, while Public Bank and Tenaga were both eight sen lower at RM20.90 and RM10.00, respectively, and PetDag fell 64 sen to RM20.66.
Top Glove was 21 sen easier at RM6.13, IHH Healthcare erased three sen to RM5.35 and Hartalega decreased 16 sen to RM12.20.
Of the actives, Vsolar and PA Resources were flat at four sen and 17.5 sen, respectively.
Meanwhile, Samaiden increased four sen to RM1.72, and PNEPCB was four sen lower at 34 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 48.44 points to 11,580.52, the FBMT 100 Index fell 45.55 points to 11,310.26, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index shed 68.45 points to 13,103.35.
The FBM 70 decreased 27.21 points to 14,840.85 and the FBM ACE was 93.99 points weaker at 10,794.37.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index slid 40.03 points to 14,762.2, the Plantation Index eased 9.88 points to 7,289.43, and the Healthcare Index was 77.42 points lower at 3,528.02.
Meanwhile, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.77 of-a-point to 179.01.
The Main Market volume eased to 3.89 billion shares worth RM3.62 billion compared with 3.96 billion shares worth RM3.39 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover rose to 441.37 million units valued at RM62.91 million versus 369.74 million units valued at RM59.34 million.
Volume on the ACE Market declined to 2.46 billion shares worth RM1.14 billion from 2.83 billion shares worth RM850.73 million previously.
Consumer products and services accounted for 619.88 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.39 billion), construction (285.52 million), technology (496.32 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (62.38 million), property (258.99 million), plantations (61.44 million), REITs (15.75 million), closed/fund (13,900), energy (308.52 million), healthcare (68.9 million), telecommunications and media (100.05 million), transportation and logistics (192.28 million), and utilities (38 million). — Bernama
