KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 22 — Bursa Malaysia opened firmer but turned easier thereafter in the morning trading today, as the key index was weighed down by selling in banking heavyweights led by Maybank and Public Bank.
At 9.06am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 2.04 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 1,582.89 from 1,584.93 at Friday’s close.
The key index opened 2.58 points higher at 1,587.51.
Market breadth, however, was positive, as overall market sentiment was buoyed by the arrival of the first batch of Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines yesterday.
On the broader market, gainers beat losers 404 to 219, while 323 counters were unchanged, 1,250 untraded and nine others suspended.
Total volume stood at 807.75 million units worth RM308.36 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd believes that the earlier-than-scheduled national vaccine rollout on Wednesday, coupled with the declining number of Covid-19 cases should lift the market sentiment moving forward.
“Traders may focus on recovery theme again,” it said in a note today.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank lost four sen to RM7.99, Public Bank fell two sen to RM4.11, Petronas Chemicals declined eight sen to RM7.41, Top Glove slipped 16 sen to RM5.89, while Tenaga was five sen better at RM9.93.
Of the actives, Dagang Nexchange warrant perked four sen to 34.5 sen, EA Holdings and Velesto inched up half-a sen each to five sen and 17.5 sen, respectively, Nexgram was one sen firmer at five sen, and OCK Group ticked up 4.5 sen to 56 sen.
Top gainer was MPI, climbing 36 sen to RM38.76 while MI Technovation was the top loser, dropping 34 sen to RM4.64.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 4.06 points to 11,645.67, the FBMT 100 Index eked out a small gain of 0.22 of-a-point to 11,320.56, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 6.53 points higher at 13,125.62.
The FBM 70 bagged 57.17 points to 15,416.52 and the FBM ACE increased 61.34 points to 11,309.96.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index retreated 47.68 points to 14,825.10, the Industrial Products and Services Index trimmed 0.24 of-a-point to 182.03, while the Plantation Index strengthened 8.76 points to 7,197.81. — Bernama
