KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 26 ― Bursa Malaysia continued to trend lower in early trade today amid the ongoing reporting season without any fresh catalysts to boost market sentiment.
At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 1.20 point to 1,516.40 from 1,517.60 at yesterday’s close.
The index opened 0.57 of-a-point higher at 1,518.44.
Losers led gainers 240 to 114, while 229 counters were unchanged, 1,729 untraded and 38 others suspended.
Total volume stood at 168.48 million units worth RM72.22 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd believes the softer trading activities might be due to a spike in Covid-19 cases locally and the release of weaker-than-expected results during the current financial reporting season resulted from the full movement control order situation in the third quarter of 2021.
The brokerage said the market might consolidate further until end of the month, before heading into the window dressing period in December.
“As we are undergoing the National Recovery Plan, recovery-theme counters may be picking up in tandem with the opening of vaccinated travel lanes next week, but Covid-19 concerns (with daily cases above 6,000) might limit the upside potential,” it added.
On Thursday, Malaysia recorded 6,144 new Covid-19 infections, bringing the total number to 2.61 million cases.
Among the heavyweights, TNB jumped nine sen to RM9.47, Public Bank, Petronas Chemicals and IHH Healthcare were flat at RM4.02, RM8.44 and RM6.67, respectively, while Maybank eased one sen to RM8.10, and CIMB declined five sen to RM5.12
Of the actives, Solution Group advanced 4.5 sen to 56.5 sen, Tanco was flat at 27 sen, while ATA IMS lost 30 sen to 52 sen, G3 Global eased 1.5 sen to 11.5 sen, MMAG Holdings slipped one sen to nine sen, and Luster Industries edged down half-a-sen to 12 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 3.16 points to 12,110.97, the FBM Emas Index went down 5.82 points to 11,153.75, the FBMT 100 Index fell 6.71 points to 10,818.66, the FBM 70 decreased 1.61 points to 14,633.86, and the FBM ACE contracted 25.21 points to 6,627.09.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index dropped 0.57 of-a-point to 198.82, the Financial Services Index reduced 30.68 points to 15,198.84, and the Plantation Index slipped 26.41 points to 6,552.77. ― Bernama
