KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 21 — Bursa Malaysia ended in the negative territory today on sell-off in rubber glove counters, namely Top Glove, Supermax and Hartalega, all of which declined by more than 1.0 per cent, dragging the Bursa Malaysia Healthcare index down by 0.7 per cent.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 6.74 points to 1,594.80 from 1,601.54 at yesterday’s close.

The index opened 6.89 points higher at 1,608.43 and moved between 1,594.31 and 1,615.22 throughout the day.

On the broader market, losers thumped gainers 812 to 347, while 413 counters were unchanged, 549 untraded and 30 others suspended.

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Total volume was higher at 6.71 billion units worth RM4.28 billion compared with 5.85 billion units worth RM4.38 billion yesterday.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said the stronger ringgit against the US dollar was the key factor for the sell-off in rubber glove counters as the weaker dollar could hurt their sales as their products are exported to other countries.

“The strengthening of the ringgit today was seen to be broad-based against global currencies after Bank Negara Malaysia’s Monetary Policy Committee decided to maintain the overnight policy rate at 1.75 per cent yesterday.

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“Other regional markets such as Singapore, South Korea, Japan, and China all ended in the green zone today, taking cues from solid overnight performance on Wall Street, due to investor optimism over upbeat corporate earnings, and on prospect that the new US administration’s massive stimulus package will bolster growth,” he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweights, Public Bank added 24 sen to RM21.56, Maybank erased four sen to RM8.05, PChem shed 19 sen to RM7.35, Tenaga eased eight sen to RM9.88 while Top Glove was 12 sen lower at RM6.02.

Of the actives, Dagang NeXchange and HPPHB added three sen each to 25.5 sen and 74 sen, respectively, while Lambo was flat at three sen.

AT Systematization and Vsolar rose half-a-sen each to 18 sen and four sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index shed 61.29 points to 11,553.37, the FBMT 100 Index was 52.55 points lower at 11,269.31, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 95.68 points weaker at 12,985.68.

The FBM 70 dropped 88.05 points to 14,822.52 and the FBM ACE fell 125.92 points to 10,724.46.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index increased 10.36 points to 14,886.79, while the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 1.87 points to 177.89 and the Plantation Index eased 11.87 points to 7,230.92.

The Main Market volume rose to 3.66 billion shares worth RM3.25 billion compared with 3.55 billion shares worth RM3.47 billion yesterday.

Warrants turnover dipped to 359.04 million units valued at RM60.06 million from 368.51 million units valued at RM62.1 million.

Volume on the ACE Market improved to 2.69 billion shares worth RM973.91 million versus 1.93 billion shares worth RM847.38 million previously.

Consumer products and services accounted for 714.27 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.08 billion), construction (110.13 million), technology (925.56 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (76.12 million), property (217.24 million), plantations (57.08 million), REITs (15.64 million), closed/fund (25,100), energy (221.98 million), healthcare (72.63 million), telecommunications and media (52.24 million), transportation and logistics (85.05 million), and utilities (30.67 million). — Bernama