KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 ― Bursa Malaysia continued to be in red in the morning session today as persistent selling was seen in more than half of the index-linked heavyweights, led by healthcare counters.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) contracted 6.87 points, or 0.43 per cent, to 1,591.07 from yesterday's close of 1,597.94.
The market barometer opened 1.14 points higher at 1,599.08 and hovered between 1,590.15 and 1,599.72 throughout the session.
Overall, market breadth was positive with gainers surpassing losers 480 to 449, while 425 counters were unchanged, 788 untraded and 12 others suspended.
Total volume stood at 4.08 billion units worth RM1.92 billion.
As for healthcare-related counters, Hartalega lost 20 sen to RM8.72, IHH fell two sen to RM5.39, Top Glove eased seven sen to RM5.03, Supermax dropped eight sen to RM4.02, as investors preferred to stay on the sidelines following the escalating Covid-19 cases and await fresh catalyst, said an analyst.
Rakuten Trade Research reckons that trading on the regional markets to be mixed today, tracking the stagnant Wall Street performance as traders were looking ahead of job report on Friday.
“Back home, we believe the FBM KLCI index should test the 1,600 mark and trend within the 1,595-1,605 range today,” it said in a note today.
However, the losses were capped by gains in Axiata and KL Kepong, with both bagging five sen and 12 sen to RM3.85 and RM22, respectively.
Axiata shares were higher on its partnership announcement with RHB Banking Group and both companies expresses confidence that their newly-formed consortium (Digital Bank) stands a high chance of clinching one of digital banking licences from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) by the first quarter of 2022.
Top losers included MPI which erased 54 sen to RM38.96, Time Dotcom which lost 40 sen to RM14.00 and F&N which shed 34 sen to RM27.04.
Top gainers included Computer Form which soared 84 sen to RM3.64, Choo Bee Metal which added 22 sen to RM2.42 and SAM Engineering which bagged 15 sen to RM7.00.
Of the actives, Greenyield rose 8.5 sen to 35 sen, Serba Dinamik retreated from earlier gains to fall half-a-sen to 82 sen, and Focus Dynamics was flat at five sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index dropped 27.45 points to 11,599.42 and the FBMT 100 Index lost 34.78 points to 11,287.98.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 23.46 points to 12,833.61, while the FBM 70 increased 7.98 points to 15,021.86, and the FBM ACE bagged 44.79 points to 7,839.72.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index slipped 44.93 points to 15,204.47, the Plantation Index increased 4.66 points to 6,857.06, and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.03 of-a-point to 193.57. ― Bernama
