KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 3 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session weaker, as the market sentiment was clouded by the ongoing assessment of the Covid-19 Omicron’s impact, dealers said.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) erased 18.23 points to 1,549.3 from Friday’s closing of 1,567.53.
The index, which opened 13.89 points lower at 1,553.64, moved between 1,545.53 and 1,556.28 throughout the session.
The composite index was heavily dragged down by IHH Healthcare after the stock fell by 45 sen to RM6.89.
Selling in the telecommunication stocks, led by Axiata, Digi and Maxis, also contributed to the downtrend in the local bourse.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 409 to 370, while 364 counters were unchanged, 1,131 untraded and 15 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.46 billion units worth RM729.03 million.
In a note, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd said the FBM KLCI might experience some selling down due to the lack of buying catalysts and expects the index to hover within the 1,550-1,560 range today.
Meanwhile, the government has decided to temporarily suspend all travels for umrah purposes beginning Jan 8 to curb the spread of the Covid-19 Omicron variant.
Yesterday, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the decision was made to slow down the spread of the Covid-19 Omicron variant, as data revealed that almost 78 per cent of the ‘presumptive’ new Omicron cases were from those returning from the mini-pilgrimage.
Among the heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals contracted 10 sen to RM8.82, Tenaga shed six sen to RM9.28, while Maybank and Public Bank were flat at RM8.30 and RM4.16, respectively.
CIMB, however, rose four sen to RM5.49.
Of the actives, Key Alliance, AT Systematization and DGB were flat at 1.5 sen, three sen and three sen respectively, SMTrack bagged two sen to 21 sen and Dagang Nexchange earned three sen to 79 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 94.12 points weaker at 11,214.67, the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 174.22 points to 12,088.88, the FBMT 100 Index lost 101.36 points to 10,913.77 and the FBM 70 slid 14.63 points to 14,195.32.
In contrast, the FBM ACE rose 63.72 points to 6,483.32.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index increased 72.53 points to 6,624.64, the Financial Services Index advanced 41.78 points to 15,607.42, while the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 1.22 points to 201.49. — Bernama
