Bursa Malaysia finishes the week in red territory dragged by losses in healthcare

KUALA LUMPUR, June 4 — Bursa Malaysia ended the week in red territory, with losses led by healthcare-linked counters as Malaysia administered 117,563 doses of Covid-19 vaccine yesterday, the highest ever since the vaccination programme started in February.

Among the indexes, the healthcare index erased almost two per cent to 3,066.07.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 12.12 points, or 0.76 per cent, to 1,578.45 from Thursday’s close of 1,590.57.

The market barometer opened 0.27 of-a-point lower at 1,590.30 and hovered between 1,573.34 and 1,590.31 throughout the session.

Overall, market breadth was negative with losers leading gainers 605 to 451, while 430 counters were unchanged, 656 untraded, and 12 others suspended.

Total volume rose to 7.21 billion units worth RM3.57 billion from 6.91 billion units worth RM3.6 billion recorded at Thursday’s close.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said losses were chalked up in rubber glove counters such as Top Glove, Hartalega and Supermax as the country administered 117,563 vaccine doses yesterday.

“This somewhat dampened sentiment regarding demand for rubber gloves in a post vaccination era,” he told Bernama.

Top Glove declined 10 sen to RM4.90, Hartalega lost 11 sen to RM8.57 and Supermax was nine sen weaker at RM3.92.

Besides the healthcare index, the technology index also depreciated by 1.1 per cent, no thanks to US President Joe Biden’s move to expand restrictions on American investments in 59 Chinese companies with alleged ties to the country’s military and surveillance efforts.

Adam said that among the 59 companies barred are technology companies such as Fujian Torch Electron Technology and Huawei Technologies.

“As a result, market jitters emerged regarding demand for Malaysia’s semiconductor components from China, pulling the Bursa Malaysia Technology Index down by 1.1 per cent, making it the second biggest decliner among sectoral indexes after the Bursa Malaysia Healthcare Index,” he explained.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank slipped three sen to RM8.17, Public Bank down four sen to RM4.20, Tenaga shed five sen to RM9.93 but PChem was three sen higher at RM8.08.

Top losers included Malaysian Pacific Industries which declined 88 sen to RM38.40, Petronas Dagangan weakened 36 sen to RM18.74 and Pharmaniaga erased 30 sen to RM5.06.

Among the top gainers, Computer Forms soared 42 sen to RM4.06, Batu Kawan added 20 sen to RM19.48 and Pecca gained 18 sen to RM4.44.

Of the actives, Zelan rose three sen to 16.5 sen, Serba Dinamik down seven sen to 76.5 sen, while Focus Dynamics was flat at 4.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 74.42 points to 11,517.80, the FBMT 100 Index shed 77.08 points to 11,205.58, while the FBM ACE rose 24.53 points to 7,800.30.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 91.01 points to 12,728.30 and the FBM 70 weakened 68.01 points to 14,939.91.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index slid 65.17 points to 15,144.68, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.12 of-a-point to 193.38, and the Plantation Index dipped 72.99 points to 6,769.80.

Main Market volume rose to 4.69 billion shares worth RM2.84 billion from 4.57 billion shares worth RM2.92 billion recorded at Thursday’s close.

Warrants turnover increased to 331.79 million units valued at RM65.24 million from 276.26 million units valued at RM26.85 million.

Volume on the Ace Market improved to 2.18 billion shares worth RM670.40 million versus 2.06 billion shares worth RM651.45 million.

Consumer products and services accounted for 600.42 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.38 billion), construction (640.31 million), technology (333.54 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (67.68 million), property (497.19 million), plantation (27.14 million), REITs (9.03 million), closed/fund (4,800), energy (815.86 million), healthcare (74.74 million), telecommunications and media (131.52 million), transportation and logistics (83.93 million) and utilities (31.08 million). — Bernama