BURSA Malaysia ended the morning session in the red after blue-chip stocks took a hit on oil price fall.
At lunch break, key index FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 1.77 points to 1,368.39 at mid-morning after opening 1.82 points higher at 1,371.98.
On the overall market, losers led with 579 counters against 195 gainers, while 325 counters were unchanged, 814 untraded and 30 suspended.
Turnover rose to 3.03 billion shares worth RM1.24 bil from 382.14 million shares during the opening.
This was after the market had shifted to move in line with other Asian stocks, with bourses in Japan and South Korea taking a dip while Hong Kong, China and Australia remained in volatile mode.
US markets traded in cautious mode as the world’s largest economy continued to grapple with the Covid-19 outbreak and impact.
Earlier today, benchmark Brent crude had slipped to below US$20 per barrel to US$19.73 while WTI crude was at US$11.95 per barrel.
Blue chips showed a decline as half of the KLCI constituents were in the red, led by Maybank which declined four sen to RM7.36, Petronas Chemicals shed seven sen to RM5.19, MISC dropped 10 sen to RM7.80 and CIMB lost eight sen to RM3.44.
Active counters witnessed mixed transactions with finance counters hit the hardest.
Velesto slipped one sen to 12.5 sen, Bumi Armada fell half a sen to 16.5 sen while Powerwell was down 1.5 sen at 30.5 sen.
For top losers, Hong Leong Bank, RHB Bank and IJM Plantation all shed four sen to RM13.20, RM4.65 and RM1.36 respectively.
As for top gainers, Petronas Dagangan added 44 sen to RM20.18, Panasonic Malaysia gained 20 sen to RM31.40 and Hartalega rose 10 sen to RM7.67.
On the index board, the FBM Emas dwindled 26.23 points to 9,533.53, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 21.40 points to 9,413.72, the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 18.08 points to 10,578.35, the FBM ACE depreciated 81.87 points to 4,506.26 while the FBM 70 shed 63.93 points to 11,372.97.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index contracted 64.50 points to 12,203.73, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.91 point lower at 114.43 while the Plantation Index slipped 50.43 points to 6,120.14. — April 28, 2020, Bernama
