KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 — Bursa Malaysia failed to maintain its upbeat momentum for the last two consecutive days to end lower on Thursday, prompted by persistent selling in healthcare-related stocks as investors opted to stay on the sidelines to weigh on the surging Covid-19 infections and pace of vaccination.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 7.37 points, or 0.46 per cent, to 1,590.57 from Wednesday’s close of 1,597.94.
The market barometer opened 1.14 points higher at 1,599.08 and moved between 1,586.61 and 1,599.72 throughout the session.
Overall, market breadth was negative with losers leading gainers 545 to 539, while 425 counters were unchanged, 633 untraded, and 21 others suspended.
Total volume fell to 6.91 billion units worth RM3.60 billion from yesterday’s 7.44 billion units worth RM4.01 billion.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said based on latest available data from the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force, the number of vaccination doses administered on June 2, 2021 reached 105,655 doses, the second highest ever since the vaccination programme began in February this year.
“Perhaps the pick up in vaccination doses has stirred some concerns on how rubber glove demand could be sustained in an era of herd immunity.
“As such, the Bursa Malaysia Healthcare Index was the biggest laggard among other sectoral indices, recording a 1.7 per cent decline during the day,” he told Bernama.
As for healthcare-related counters, Hartalega lost 24 sen to RM8.68, Top Glove eased 10 sen to RM5.00, IHH fell three sen to RM5.38, Supermax dropped nine sen to RM4.01, and Pharmaniaga declined 27 sen to RM5.40.
Meanwhile, financial heavyweights took a step back after their recent rally to drag the market lower, with Maybank dropping four sen to RM8.20, CIMB erasing six sen to RM4.48, and RHB declining three sen to RM5.45.
However, HLBank and HLFG bucked the trend, rising eight sen and 14 sen to RM18.48 and RM17.94 respectively.
Top losers included Time dotCom which fell 40 sen to RM14.00, F&N erased 38 sen to RM27.00, and MPI lost 22 sen to RM39.28.
Among the top gainers, Computer Forms soared 84 sen to RM3.64, Choo Bee Metal added 19 sen to RM2.39, and Astino bagged 17 sen to RM1.50.
Of the actives, Progressive Impact rose 6.5 sen to 23 sen, Greenyield climbed three sen to 30 sen, Serba Dinamik added one sen to 83.5 sen, and YGL increased 7.5 sen to 27.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 34.65 points to 11,592.22, the FBMT 100 Index shed 40.10 points to 11,282.66, and the FBM ACE fell 19.16 points to 7,775.77.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 37.76 points to 12,819.31 and the FBM 70 decreased 5.96 points to 15,007.92.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index slid 39.55 points to 15,209.85, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.04 of-a-point to 193.50, and the Plantation Index dipped 9.61 points to 6,842.79.
Main Market volume fell to 4.57 billion shares worth RM2.92 billion from 4.90 billion shares worth RM3.33 billion recorded at Wednesday’s close.
Warrants turnover shrank to 276.26 million units valued at RM26.85 million from 300.06 million units valued at RM27.63 million.
Volume on the ACE Market declined to 2.06 billion shares worth RM651.45 million versus 2.23 billion shares worth RM739.76 million previously.
Consumer products and services accounted for 804.16 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.66 billion), construction (135.73 million), technology (437.68 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (48.94 million), property (201.98 million), plantation (37.43 million), REITs (10.45 million), closed/fund (2,000), energy (872.60 billion), healthcare (82.07 million), telecommunications and media (133.57 million), transportation and logistics (128.33 million), and utilities (18.62 million). — Bernama
