Bursa ends in the red at closing, reversing yesterday’s gains

BURSA Malaysia reversed yesterday’s gains, ending in the red today on selling pressure across the board.

Of the index-linked stocks, Top Glove Corporation Bhd, MISC Bhd, and Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd were the top losers, which together weighed down the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) by a combined 7.54 points, dealers said.

At 5pm, the barometer index fell by 18.74 points to finish at 1,578.89  from Wednesday’s close of 1,597.63.

After opening 5.45 points lower at 1,592.18, the FBM KLCI moved between 1,577.45 and 1,592.74 today.

In the broader market, losers thumped gainers 747 to 338, while 413 counters were unchanged, 721 untraded and six others suspended.

Turnover was lower at 4.18 billion units worth RM2.92 bil compared with 5.91 billion units worth RM3.23 bil on Wednesday.

A dealer said the local bourse stayed in negative territory since opening, tracking the lacklustre overnight performance of global stocks amid investors’ anticipation of the unwinding of central banks’ COVID-19 stimulus measures.

“Bursa also remained in consolidation mode, with today’s decline exacerbated by regional weaknesses as well,” he told.

Meanwhile, Bank Islam chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid commented that the selling pressure was quite broad based, reflecting that investors were trying to lock in some gains after the recent rally in equity prices.

“Concerns over the US labour market since last week, China’s regulatory crackdown on private companies and intermittent lockdowns in some jurisdictions following the rise in COVID-19 infections might have triggered the selling pressure.

“And today, Bank Negara Malaysia has kept the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) unchanged at 1.75% with the balance of risks now tilted to the downside. So what we are seeing this week is the rise in risk aversion,” he said.

He added that clearly, the rise in COVID-19 new cases would continue to rock the market despite higher vaccination rates globally, and this was especially true as certain jurisdictions had been reportedly going back into lockdowns, hence indicating that the pace of the economic recovery would stay uneven.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 eased 0.57% to 30,008.19, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 2.3% to 25,716, and South Korea’s Kospi slipped 1.53% to 3,114.7, while Singapore’s Straits Times Index edged up 0.01% to 3,069.22.

Back home, heavyweights Maybank and Public Bank slipped five sen each to RM8.26 and RM4.10,  respectively, Petronas Chemicals eased one sen to RM8.08, and Tenaga Nasional shed four sen to RM10.26, but IHH Healthcare rose 21 sen to RM6.61.

Of the actives, Kanger edged up half-a-sen to 6.5 sen and KNM lost half-a-sen to 26 sen. Meanwhile, TA Win, JOE Holding and Focus Dynamics were flat at 14.5 sen, five sen and 5.5 sen, respectively. – Sept 9, 2021

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