KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 29 — Persistent selling in most heavyweights dragged Bursa Malaysia to end lower, in line with the weaker sentiment on regional bourses due to bearish economic outlook, dealers said.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 14.22 points or 0.90 per cent to 1,566.44, off its intraday low of 1,560.54, compared with Wednesday’s close of 1,580.62.
The index opened 16.54 points higher at 1,597.16 and moved between 1,560.54 and 1,597.52 throughout the day.
On the broader market, losers thumped gainers 873 to 366, while 380 counters were unchanged, 546 untraded and 62 others suspended.
Total volume was higher at 6.54 billion units worth RM6.37 billion from 5.63 billion units worth RM4.98 billion on Wednesday.
A dealer said the US markets were roiled by a spate of trading by small investors of video game vendor GameStop that hurt hedge funds that bet the stock would fall, of which brokers suspended some options trading in that stock and other stocks.
Another dealer said the move looked to have inspired some local investors to start “bursabet” which targeted to drive up the share prices of rubber-related companies that were affected by the pandemic recently.
The local version on social aggregator Reddit is based off the “wallstreetbets” subreddit group, a collective of presumably stock and option traders who are now calling for “unity” against “institutions” and “big money”.
Top Glove emerged among the top gainers and most actively traded stock today, rising 53 sen to RM6.74 with 161.62 million shares changing hands.
Other local rubber makers which were believed to received similar support were Supermax Corp, which improved 24 sen to RM6.80, Kossan Rubber added 19 sen to RM4.45, and Comfort Gloves went up 5.0 sen to RM3.14.
Meanwhile, on the regional market, investors remained cautious over the Covid-19 infection spikes in Europe and Asia, renewed travel curbs and negotiations in Washington over President Joe Biden’s proposed US$1.9 trillion (RM7.7 trillion) economic aid package.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.89 per cent to 27,663.39, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dipped 0.94 per cent to 28,283.71, China’s Shanghai Composite slid 0.63 per cent to 3,483.07, while Singapore’s Straits Times Index declined 0.63 per cent to 2,901.96.
The local market will be closed on Monday for the Federal Territory holiday.
Among heavyweights, Maybank went down 6.0 sen to RM7.81, Public Bank slipped 17 sen to RM4.19, TNB declined 13 sen to RM9.65, while Petronas Chemicals and IHH Healthcare fell 14 sen each to RM6.71 and RM5.11, respectively.
Of the actives, Iris Corp advanced 4.0 sen to 43.5 sen, P.A. Resources improved 1.0 sen to 21 sen, while Fintec and QES were flat at 7.5 sen and 40.5 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index lost 91.33 points to 11,363.81, the FBMT 100 Index went down 85.46 points to 11,104.93 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 44.74 points lower at 12,870.86.
The FBM 70 shed 54.05 points to 14,747.34 and the FBM ACE slipped 132.90 points to 11,032.94.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dropped 282.18 points to 14,464.06, the Plantation Index decreased 49.27 points to 7,097.89 and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 1.95 points to 169.19.
The Main Market volume rose to 3.55 billion shares worth RM5.36 billion compared with 3.52 billion shares worth RM4.05 billion on Wednesday.
Warrants turnover expanded to 594.50 million units valued at RM88.63 million from 365.21 million units valued at RM57.60 million.
Volume on the ACE Market increased to 2.39 billion shares worth RM921.86 million versus 1.75 billion shares worth RM865.46 million previously.
Consumer products and services accounted for 496.43 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.24 billion), construction (161.55 million), technology (376.79 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (155.49 million), property (248.62 million), plantations (58.79 million), REITs (12.60 million), closed/fund (5,400), energy (268.85 million), healthcare (254.85 million), telecommunications and media (74.56 million), transportation and logistics (148.81 million), and utilities (54.82 million). — Bernama
