KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed lower today on persistent selling in selected consumer product and financial services counters, and in line with the bearish sentiment in regional markets, dealers said.
At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 11.79 points to 1,369.85 from 1,381.64 at yesterday’s close.
The barometer index, which opened 5.47 points lower at 1,376.17 points, hovered between 1,367.49 and 1,377.71 throughout the day.
The overall market breadth remained bullish with gainers leading losers 445 to 400, while 365 counters were unchanged, 701 untraded and 28 others suspended.
Turnover edged down to 4.69 billion shares worth RM2.49 bil from 5.05 billion shares worth RM2.58 bil yesterday.
A dealer said Asian markets failed to be propped up by the US Congress’s passage of a US$484 bil (RM2.11 tril) aid package due to renewed concerns over the global economy as the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) across the globe showed how hard the world is hit by the Covid-19.
“Also exerting downside pressure on equities could be the lack of positive results from Gilead’s Remdesivir trials that initially triggered hopes of a cure for the pandemic,” he said.
Moving forward, he said investors will keep an eye on the upcoming US data next week and virus updates for near-term direction while oil prices movement can offer additional impetus.
On the local bourse, heavyweights Maybank slipped six sen to RM7.36, TNB declined 14 sen to RM12.16, Petronas Chemicals was 12 sen lower at RM5.27, Public Bank went down four sen to RM15.82 and IHH Healthcare fell nine sen to RM5.11.
Of the actives, Sanichi Technology was flat at 4.5 sen, Velesto Energy eased half-a-sen to 14 sen while Key Alliance rose 2.5 sen to six sen and Careplus improved 5.5 sen to 43 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 63.25 points weaker at 9,554.64, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 65.74 points to 9,432.67, the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 77.33 points to 10,598.73, the FBM 70 shed 16 points to 11,432.50 but the FBM ACE advanced 52.84 points to 4,449.18.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index declined 54.84 points to 12,254.06, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 1.16 points to 115.68 and the Plantation Index contracted 24.76 points to 6,133.47.
Main Market volume decreased to 3.29 billion shares worth RM2.19 bil from 3.48 billion shares worth RM2.24 bil on Thursday.
Warrants turnover narrowed to 277.78 million units worth RM76.10 mil from yesterday’s 329.74 million units worth RM79.97 mil.
Volume on the ACE Market slipped to 1.12 billion shares worth RM221.54 mil from 1.25 billion shares worth RM261 mil previously.
Consumer products and services accounted for 662.66 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (560.03 million), construction (213.06 million), technology (173.31 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (40.96 million), property (539.54 million), plantations (38.35 million), REITs (8.08 million), closed/fund (38,000), energy (627.40 million), healthcare (118.30 million), telecommunications and media (139.49 million), transportation and logistics (126.44 million), and utilities (45.22 million). – April 24, 2020, Bernama
