KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia slipped into the red at mid-afternoon, tracking the regional performance amidst the latest development on Covid-19 health crisis.
At 3.05pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) dipped 3.28 points to 1,497.60 after rebounding 4.85 points at 1,505.73 at lunch break.
The index was dragged down by heavyweights including Petronas Chemicals which was down 47 sen to RM5.93, Public Bank fell four sen to RM17.48 and IHH which slid three sen to RM5.66, while Maxis shed eight sen to RM5.37 and Axiata declined six sen to RM4.15.
On the broader market, losers trounced gainers 521 to 308, while 379 counters were unchanged, 793 untraded and 25 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 2.44 billion shares worth RM1.81 bil.
An analyst said the weaker performance on the local market was mainly tracking global indices which recorded a downtrend since yesterday due to the Covid-19 health crisis.
It must be noted that at this time, key market indicators, such as US Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), Japan’s Nikkei, South Korea’s KOSPI, Singapore’s Straits Times and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, all recorded declines due to concerns over the Covid-19 global health situation.
The DJIA was 3.15% lower after falling 879.44 points to 27,081.36, Nikkei slumped 0.92% to 22,397.59, KOSPI was down 1.07% to 2,081.14, Hang Seng eased 0.49% 26,397.59 and the Straits Times Index dropped 0.94% to 3,128.57.
“For the time being, the reason is most likely due to regional sentiment. On the local front, investors are still awaiting the conclusion between the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah and all 222 Members of Parliament which is expected to be concluded by evening today,” she said.
On the local bourse, consumer products remained the top losers, with Carlsberg declining RM1.66 to RM35.54 while Heineken fell 66 sen to RM28.34, Nestle lost 30 sen to RM141.70 and F&N gave up 28 sen to RM31.08.
As for the actives, Advance Synergy rose 3.5 sen to 18.5 sen, Radiant Global gained 5.5 sen to 38.5 sen and Powerwell added 4.5 sen to 42 sen.
On the index board, almost all indices were in red, with the FBM Emas Index declining 41.45 points to 10,694.06 while the FBMT 100 Index shed 38.31 points to 10,487.32 and the FBM Ace dipped 8.84 points to 5,686.84.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 56.82 points to 11,370.37 while the FBM 70 slid 111.91 points to 13,448.16.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index was lower by 3.82 points at 139.64, while the Financial Services Index bagged 16.27 points to 14,416.14 and the Plantation Index advanced 4.62 points to 6,944.17. – Feb 26, 2020, Bernama
