KUALA LUMPUR, May 11 — Bursa Malaysia resumed the afternoon session on a weak note with selling spotted across the board as the nationwide expansion of the movement control order weighed on market sentiment.
At 3.07pm, the benchmark index FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) contracted 10.65 points to 1,573.27 from Monday’s close of 1,583.92.
On the broader market, losers heavily outnumbered gainers 1,003 to 152, while 317 counters were unchanged, 696 untraded and 12 others suspended.
Total volume stood at 3.95 billion worth RM1.89 billion.
Nevertheless, the better-than-expected first quarter 2021 (1Q21) gross domestic product (GDP) performance helped cushion the downside.
Bank Negara Malaysia announced that the country’s economy recorded a 0.5 per cent contraction in 1Q21 compared with a decrease of 3.4 per cent in the preceding quarter, signalling a recovery with improvement seen across all economic sectors.
Governor Datuk Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus said Malaysia remained on track to achieve its forecast gross domestic product growth of between 6.0 per cent and 7.5 per cent in 2021, riding on the recovery in domestic demand.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank trimmed six sen to RM8.18, Public Bank and Tenaga slipped one sen each to RM4.09 and RM9.89, respectively, PetChem fell 12 sen to RM8.13, while IHH Healthcare shed nine sen to RM5.57.
Of the actives, Focus Dynamics slid one sen to seven sen, Fintec inched down half-a-sen to four sen, while Pegasus and AT Systematization were flat at two sen and nine sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 100.97 points to 11,515.36, the FBMT 100 Index was 87.18 points lower at 11,190.86, the FBM Emas Shariah Index erased 111.49 points to 12,910.62, the FBM ACE fell 230.9 points to 7,906.94, and the FBM 70 reduced 161.38 points to 15,005.89.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gave up 89.32 points for 14,700.22, the Industrial Products and Services Index slid 2.71 points to 196.45, while the Plantation Index weakened 78.72 points to 7,071.41.
In conjunction with the Aidilfitri holidays on Thursday and Friday, Bursa Malaysia and its subsidiaries will be closed from noon onwards on Wednesday, May 12.
However, clearing, settlement and depository services provided by Bursa Malaysia Depository and the offices of Bursa Malaysia Securities and Bursa Malaysia Derivatives will continue as usual and remain open until the end of the business day, the bourse said in a statement yesterday.
Bursa Malaysia will remain close from May 13-16, and trading will resume on Monday, May 17. — Bernama
