BURSA Malaysia ended the trading day on an intra-day low on profit-taking, as investors took in the COVID-19 vaccine news.
Malaysia received its first batch of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday, and many believed that the news would lift the local market sentiment.
At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) lost 14.47 points, or 0.91%, to 1,570.46 from 1,584.93 at last Friday’s close.
The key index opened 2.58 points higher at 1,587.51, and moved between 1,570.46 and 1,587.51 throughout the day.
Market breadth was negative with losers overtaking gainers 754 to 476, while 459 counters were unchanged, 507 untraded and nine others suspended.
Total volume was easier at 13.30 billion units worth RM5.70 bil, compared with 14.36 billion units worth RM6.36 bil last Friday.
MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd research head Imran Yassin Yusof said the key index had succumbed to profit-taking following the recent gains, as investors priced in the vaccine news.
“Based on the recent performance of the pharmaceutical counters, some investors could have decided to take profit,” he said.
Furthermore, Imran said the vaccine news also led to selling pressure on glove counters, possibly due to the perception that glove demand may normalise following the vaccine rollout.
“This has led to the downtrend in the FBM KLCI as well, given the gloves’ weightage in the index,” he said.
Among the rubber glove heavyweights, Top Glove and Supermax shrank 27 sen each to RM5.78 and RM5.53, respectively, while Hartalega erased 42 sen to RM11.64.
Meanwhile, Maybank declined 8 sen to RM7.95, and CIMB was 9 sen lower at RM4.16.
Of the actives, Key Alliance gained half-a-sen to 6 sen, Nexgram and AT Systematization bagged 1.5 sen each to 5.5 sen and 15.5 sen, respectively, Velesto was unchanged at 17 sen, while EA Holdings was half-a-sen easier at 4 sen.
Top loser MPI shed RM1.16 to RM37.24, while top gainer Heineken surged RM1.22 to RM24.72. – Feb 22, 2021
