KUALA LUMPUR: Shares on Bursa Malaysia ended lower on today (Feb 19) on cautious market sentiment as investors take a wait-and-see attitude, at least for the next two weeks in view of the corporate earnings season.
A dealer said fears that the Covid-19 outbreak may disrupt manufacturing supply chains and impact the global economy and financial markets were also concerns among investors.
“However, news that policymakers are rolling out measures to cushion the impact capped the equity market from a further decline,” he said.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI eased 2.92 points to 1,534.16 from Tuesday’s close of 1,537.08.
After opening 2.14 points higher at 1,539.22 this morning, the local index moved between 1,530.83 and 1,539.90 throughout the day.
On the scoreboard, losers slightly edged gainers 416 to 406, while 400 counters were unchanged, 751 untraded and 40 others suspended.
Turnover decreased to 2.54 billion shares worth RM1.95 bil from 2.78 billion shares worth RM2.05 bil recorded on Tuesday.
Additionally, the dealer said the local market turned cautious ahead of the Pakatan Harapan presidential council meeting this Friday, which is expected to discuss various issues including power transition.
Meanwhile, Asian stock markets were mostly positive with Japan’s Nikkei 225 closing 0.89% higher to 23,400.70, South Korea’s Kospi was up 0.07% to 2,210.34, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng surged 0.46% to 27,655.81, but the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.32% to 2,975.40.
Among heavyweights on Bursa Malaysia, Maybank erased seven sen to RM8.40, Tenaga was flat at RM12.60 while Public Bank jumped 24 sen to RM17.94 and Petronas Chemicals was six sen higher to RM6.54.
Of the actives, Powerwell rose 6.5 sen to 36.5 sen, XOX and Sapura Energy were both flat at five sen and 24 sen respectively, while MyEG was one sen lower at RM1.23.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 13.90 points to 10,985.39, the FBMT 100 Index eased 16.66 points to 10,773.18 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index gave up 40.86 points to 11,715.37.
The FBM 70 dipped 5.93 points to 13,937.10 but the FBM Ace improved 70.41 points to 5,611.01.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.43 of-a-point to 146.43, the Financial Services Index gained 13.65 points to 14,651.38 but the Plantation Index shed 56.41 points to 7,180.22.
Main Market volume declined to 1.46 billion shares valued at RM1.68 bil from 1.81 billion shares valued at RM1.84 bil recorded on Tuesday.
Warrants turnover decreased to 322.39 million units worth RM52.19 mil versus 353.82 million units worth RM54.94 mil.
Volume on the ACE Market increased to 764.70 million shares valued at RM217.32 mil compared with 615.51 million shares valued at RM157.43 mil.
Consumer products and services accounted for 298.47 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (193.26 million), construction (80.64 million), technology (165 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (42.27 million), property (85.96 million), plantations (21.16 million), REITs (15.34 million), closed/fund (64,000), energy (392.20 million), healthcare (50.47 million), telecommunications and media (49.12 million), transportation and logistics (36.74 million), and utilities (26 million). – Feb 19, 2020, Bernama
