BURSA Malaysia ended the week in the red and at intraday low, on selling pressure across the board, tracking the regional peers amid negative sentiment surrounding the market, a dealer said.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 18.33 points or 1.21% to 1,494.60 compared with Thursday’s close of 1,512.93.
The index opened 0.95 of-a-point easier at 1,511.98 and moved between 1,494.60 and 1,512.01 throughout the morning session.
On the broader market, losers thumped gainers 665 versus 300, while 407 counters were unchanged, 834 untraded and 64 others suspended.
Turnover fell to 4.12 billion units valued at RM2.72 bil from Thursday’s 4.48 billion units valued at RM2.86 bil.
A dealer said the local bourse stayed in the negative territory throughout the session with the key index dragged down by selling pressure in heavyweights, in its attempt to breach the 1,500 support level.
“The heightened political uncertainties and the number of positive COVID-19 cases which remained high in the country continued to negatively affect the market,” he told Bernama.
Bursa’s performance was in line with its regional peers which turned lower despite the positive close on Wall Street overnight, due to concerns on the resurgence of COVID-19 cases globally as well as lingering worries over regulatory crackdowns in China on the education, property and tech sectors, he noted.
Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.01% to 3,180.16, South Korea’s Kospi reduced 1.24% to 3,202.32, Japan’s Nikkei 225 decreased 1.80% to 27,283.59, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.35% to 25,961.03.
Meanwhile, Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said Beijing’s regulatory crackdown on private tutoring for core school subjects has led to a sell-off in education-linked sectors.
“This was despite reassurance given by Chinese regulators to investment banks.
“Plantation counters such as Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd and Sime Darby Plantation Bhd declined on Friday, causing the Bursa Malaysia Plantation Index as the biggest loser among sectoral indexes, ending 2.48% lower,” he shared.
Of the heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) lost three sen to RM8.01, Public Bank Bhd shed one sen to RM3.98, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd slipped seven sen to RM8.04, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) fell nine sen to RM9.64 and IHH Healthcare Bhd dropped 15 sen to RM5.64.
Among the actives, Sersol Bhd rose seven sen to 55 sen, Green Ocean Corporation Bhd edged up half-a-sen to 3.5 sen, AppAsia Bhd warrant added 1.5 sen to seven sen, while Kanger International Bhd and AT Systematization Bhd were flat at 6.5 sen and six sen respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index lost 98.30 points to 10,973.47, FBMT 100 Index went down 101.62 points to 10,681.25, FBM 70 shed 23.96 points to 14,518.29, FBM Emas Shariah Index was 120.54 points lower at 12,049.08, and the FBM ACE slipped 59.96 points to 7,080.63.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index decreased 98.84 points to 14,681.45, the Plantation Index declined 153.31 points to 6,039.04, while the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.79 of-a-point to 187.20.
Main Market volume reduced to 2.14 billion shares valued at RM2.17 bil from Thursday’s 2.76 billion shares valued at RM2.27 bil.
Warrants turnover narrowed to 293.15 million units worth RM42.73 mil from 342.22 million units worth RM53.73 mil yesterday.
Volume on the ACE Market rose to 1.69 billion shares valued at RM502.54 mil from 1.37 billion shares valued at RM536.16 mil on Thursday.
Consumer products and services accounted for 453.75 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (570.82 million), construction (122.71 million), technology (254.89 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (84.68 million), property (242.85 million), plantation (20.36 million), REITs (8.04 million), closed/fund (105,500), energy (213.79 million), healthcare (71.95 million), telecommunications and media (35.82 million), transportation and logistics (37.43 million), and utilities (17.69 million).
