KUALA LUMPUR, June 30 — The last trading day of the first half of 2021 saw Bursa Malaysia end sharply lower as investors continued to assess the economic impact from the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 15.68 points or 1.01 per cent easier at 1,532.63 from yesterday’s close of 1,548.31.
The market bellwether opened 1.01 points lower at 1,547.30 and fluctuated between 1,531.66 and 1,551.95 throughout the session.
On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 660 to 309, while 426 counters were unchanged, 821 untraded, and 61 others suspended.
Turnover decreased to 4.65 billion units valued at RM2.67 billion from 4.79 billion units valued at RM2.63 billion yesterday.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said the FBM KLCI closed at the lowest point in nearly eight months since investor sentiment remained dampened due to the number of daily Covid-19 cases, which remains high at 6,276 cases on June 30.
He said under the FBM KLCI index, the main laggards were Digi and Sime Darby Plantation, both of which dropped by more than 3.0 per cent.
“The slump in these two stocks caused the Bursa Malaysia Telecommunication Index and the Bursa Malaysia Plantation index to both decline by 1.1 per cent during the day, the largest drop amongst the sector indices,” he told Bernama.
He said overseas, other Asian markets recorded gains, taking cue from the robust consumer confidence in the US, which lifted Wall Street performance overnight.
On the home front, among heavyweights, only RHB Bank was in the positive territory, gaining three sen to RM5.40.
IHH lost 16 sen to RM5.47, Digi was 15 sen weaker at RM4.13, while Top Glove and Sime Darby Plantation eased 13 sen each to RM4.17 and RM3.98 respectively.
Public Bank dropped four sen to RM4.11, Hartalega declined 14 sen to RM7.35, Petronas Gas went down 20 sen to RM15.50, Petronas Dagangan dipped 38 sen to RM18.60, and PChem was flat at RM8.06.
Of the actives, Serba Dinamik was up one sen to 33 sen, Sedania surged 22.5 sen to 72.5 sen, Kumpulan Jetson rose 5.5 sen to 34.5 sen, and Saudee added two sen to 20.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 93.44 points to 11,156.22, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 94.15 points to 10,875.09, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 129.65 points to 12,178.28.
The FBM ACE eased 128.09 points to 6,949.35 and the FBM 70 was 58.47 points lower at 14,478.99.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dropped 53.15 points to 15,098.31, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 1.03 points lower at 186.30, and the Plantation Index shed 68.37 points to 6,401.48.
Main Market volume dwindled to 2.96 billion shares valued at RM2.20 billion from 3.15 billion shares valued at RM2.10 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover narrowed to 144.16 million units valued at RM16.97 million from 183.35 million units valued at RM20.59 million.
Volume on the ACE Market widened to 1.54 billion shares worth RM458.61 million from 1.46 billion shares worth RM507.91 million previously.
Consumer products and services accounted for 505.84 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (815.42 million), construction (204.14 million), technology (296.53 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (79.25 million), property (156.92 million), plantation (23.21 million), REITs (2.7 million), closed/fund (15,000), energy (653.44 million), healthcare (51.79 million), telecommunications and media (94.62 million), transportation and logistics (51.05 million), and utilities (25.02 million). — Bernama
