KUALA LUMPUR, June 11 — Bursa Malaysia ended the week on an easier note for the third straight day, weighed down by selling pressure in blue-chip counters such as Sime Darby, KL Kepong and Hap Seng.
At the close, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 4.74 points to 1,575.16 from yesterday’s close of 1,579.90.
The index opened 3.37 points better at 1,583.27 today and moved between 1,571.58 and 1,584.09 throughout the day.
Market breadth was negative with losers leading gainers 531 to 443, while 476 counters were unchanged, 711 untraded and 29 others suspended.
Turnover rose to 5.33 billion units worth RM2.97 billion from 4.91 billion units worth RM2.74 billion yesterday.
Throughout the day, 18 of the FBM KLCI component stocks were lower while 10 counters chalked up gains.
An analyst said sentiment has turned negative on the back of rising Covid-19 infections in the country with 6,849 new cases today.
“Investors prefer to stay on the sidelines ahead of the weekend, pending the government announcement on whether the lockdown would be continued or implement more concerted efforts to contain the escalating domestic Covid-19 cases,” he said.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said the FBM KLCI closed 0.3 per cent lower with Supermax leading laggards with a 2.9 per cent loss on Friday, dragging down the Bursa Malaysia healthcare Index by 0.8 per cent.
“The FBM KLCI is expected to trade within a range of 1,570 to 1,600 points next week as investors will likely be focusing on the number of vaccination doses administered daily in the country,” he told Bernama.
As at June 10, the number of jabs administered daily stood above 150,000 jabs for three consecutive days.
Of heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM8.18, Public Bank gained one sen to RM4.21, PetChem fell one sen to RM8.08 and Press Metal eased seven sen to RM5.06.
Top losers were C.I Holdings which gave up 28 sen to RM3.42, KL Kepong dwindled 26 sen to RM21.54 and Pecca Group shed 20 sen to RM4.41.
Of actives, Dagang Nexchange rose half-a-sen to 86 sen following news that Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd has acquired a substantial stake in the company, while Avillion bagged six sen to 17 sen and Serba Dinamik lost 3.5 sen to 60.5 sen.
Among gainers, MPI jumped RM1.80 to RM39.30, Nestle soared RM1 to RM135.80 and Transocean improved 63 sen to RM4.87.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 21.93 points to 11,503.19, the FBMT 100 Index erased 23.3 points to 11,187.16, and the FBM ACE trimmed 11.04 points to 7,643.07.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index dropped 32.66 points to 12,636.33 but the FBM 70 strengthened 9.17 points to 14,934.43.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index lost 18.53 points to 15,252.78, while the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.31 of-a-point to 192.33 and the Plantation Index fell 63.91 points to 6,699.49.
Main Market volume improved to 4.08 billion shares worth RM2.61 billion from 2.85 billion shares worth RM2.21 billion at Thursday’s close.
Warrants turnover fell to 228.33 million units valued at RM27.47 million from 231.20 million units valued at RM35.05 million yesterday.
Volume on the ACE Market dropped to 1.02 billion shares worth RM328.62 million versus 1.83 billion shares worth RM490.18 million previously.
Consumer products and services accounted for 925.86 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (839.34 million), construction (321.47 million), technology (820.92 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (49.14 million), property (319.22 million), plantation (27.16 million), REITs (6.38 million), closed/fund (nil), energy (468.87 million), healthcare (55.12 million), telecommunications and media (104.86 million), transportation and logistics (83.38 million) and utilities (53.94 million). — Bernama
