KUALA LUMPUR, July 12 — Bursa Malaysia closed lower today as investors’ appetite for the local equity market remained muted amid the challenging economic environment and high number of new Covid-19 cases.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 0.5 per cent or 7.69 points to 1,512.89 from last Friday’s close of 1,520.58.

The market bellwether which opened 1.65 points better at 1,522.23, moved between 1,509.25 and 1,525.42 throughout the trading session today.

On the broader market, losers surpassed gainers 743 to 246, while 395 counters were unchanged, 833 untraded, and 10 others suspended.

Turnover increased to 4.28 billion units worth RM2.35 billion from Friday’s 3.98 billion units worth RM2.86 billion.

An analyst said reports indicating that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth is likely to be revised to be around four per cent this year from the initial forecast of six to seven per cent has weighed on sentiment.

On another development, the Selangor government has proposed to the federal government to shut down the economic sector for several days after the state continues to record high number Covid-19 cases.

“Besides, with the new proposal to conduct Antigen Rapid Test Kit (RTK) swab tests by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) twice a week as part of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the manufacturing sector under essential services would put more strain on the already struggling sector,” she told Bernama.

Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd head of equity sales Vincent Lau said that despite the Covid-19 cases remaining high, at 8,574 today, he hoped the higher number of vaccinations could cushion the sluggish market sentiment.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank dropped seven sen to RM8.06, Public Bank and CIMB each added two sen to RM4.08 and RM4.51 respectively, Petronas Chemicals eased two sen to RM8.04, TNB fell one sen to RM9.68 but IHH rose three sen to RM5.64.

Of the actives, MPay and Serba Dinamik declined half-a-sen each to 24.5 sen and 45 sen respectively, while YBS rose eight sen to 43.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index narrowed by 66.41 points to 11,003.7, the FBMT 100 Index fell 60.28 points to 10,721.64, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index dipped 101.28 points to 12,009.5.

The FBM ACE plunged 152.45 points to 7,022.59, and the FBM 70 lost 102.72 points to 14,222.21.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index weakened by 21.08 points to 14,934.55, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 1.72 points to 185.80, and the Plantation Index was 48.41 points easier at 6,242.02.

Main Market volume declined to 2.17 billion shares valued at RM1.77 billion from 2.58 billion shares worth RM2.28 billion on Friday.

Warrants turnover went down to 185.92 million units worth RM198.57 million from 215.29 million units valued at RM27.21 million previously.

Volume on the ACE Market, however, rose to 1.92 billion shares valued at RM553.14 billion against Friday’s 1.19 billion shares worth RM557.32 billion.

Consumer products and services accounted for 296.58 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (623.54 million), construction (78.11 million), technology (386.07 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (41.28 million), property (172.48 million), plantation (25.64 million), REITs (4.33 million), closed/fund (12,300), energy (396.69 million), healthcare (52.67 million), telecommunications and media (44.46 million), transportation and logistics (44.68 million), and utilities (10.25 million). — Bernama