BURSA Malaysia closed lower today dragged down by selling in selected heavyweights amid weak market sentiment brought about by concerns over the high local daily COVID-19 cases.
However, the announcement that several states have transitioned from Phase Two to Phase Three of the National Recovery Plan (NRP) has helped to cushion the downtrend.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shed 5.98 points to end the day at 1,489.80 compared with Thursday’s close of 1,495.78.
The market bellwether, which opened 0.92 points easier at 1,494.86, fluctuated between 1,486.05 and 1,498.59 throughout the session.
Market breadth was almost even with gainers edging losers 496 to 495, while 431 counters were unchanged, 771 untraded, and 11 others suspended.
Turnover decreased to 4.29 billion units worth RM2.53 bil from 4.69 billion units valued at RM2.42 bil on Thursday.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said the FBM KLCI closed 0.4 per cent lower in tandem with most regional peers as concerns from the COVID-19 Delta variant, which might dent economic recovery prospects, dampened investor sentiment during the day.
Citing the World Health Organisation, he said the global number of COVID-19 cases have surpassed 200 million cases.
“China has imposed mobility restrictions to curb the spread of the Delta variant, including cancelling flights and halt train services,” he told Bernama.
Malaysia recorded 20,889 new COVID-19 infections today – the highest daily total since the pandemic struck the country in February last year.
On further scrutiny, Adam said losers on the FBM KLCI were mainly dominated by glove counters, namely Hartalega and Top Glove, which dropped 2.1% and 2.4% respectively.
Following this, the Bursa Malaysia Healthcare Index was the biggest loser among sectoral indices as it fell 1.2% during the day.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank lost six sen to RM7.98, Public Bank slid two sen to RM3.94, Petronas Chemicals slipped one sen to RM7.99, Tenaga erased 11 sen to RM9.61, while CIMB was flat at RM4.55.
IHH, however, picked up two sen to RM5.74.
Among the actives, Dagang NeXchange rose seven sen to 82.5 sen, Kanger inched down half-a-sen to six sen, Serba Dinamik added half-a-sen to 40 sen, while Vsolar was flat at 1.5 sen. – Aug 6, 2021
