BURSA Malaysia remained lower at mid-morning, as weak sentiment clouded regional markets following another night of trashing on Wall Street.
At 11.07am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) lost 22.90 points to 1,216.11 from yesterday’s close of 1,239.01, after opening 11.30 points easier at 1,227.71.
On the broader market, losers beat gainers 753 to 107, with 174 counters unchanged, 983 not traded and 16 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.33 billion shares worth RM788.03 mil.
In a note, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd said investors are reverting to a ‘cash is king’ stance considering that even the US treasuries were sold down as well.
“The US 10-year yield climbed from a low of 0.75% a few days ago to around 1.2% now.
“We may see more downside bias for the FBM KLCI with 1,220 as the immediate support after which 1,200 would be the psychological support level,” it added.
On Wall Street, investors continued to dump equities and other assets on worries over the economic impact from the global Covid-19 pandemic, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping around 6.3% to end near 19,899 while the S&P 500 ended down 5.2% to 2,398 and the Nasdaq Composite finished 4.7% lower to 6,990.
On the regional front, Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 4.39% to 2,319.11, the Jakarta Composite Index declined 5.01% to 4,113.65 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was 4.23% lower at 21,349.68.
Of the heavyweights on Bursa Malaysia, Maybank decreased 13 sen to RM7.13, Tenaga fell 18 sen to RM11.24, Public Bank was 28 sen lower at RM12.74 and IHH was 16 sen higher at RM4.96.
Among the actives were Sapura Energy, which fell one sen to 6.5 sen, Ekovest declined 4.5 sen to 30 sen and UWC lost 19 sen to RM1.05.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index depreciated 239.33 points to 8,234.91, the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 233.09 points to 9,039.19 and the FBM 70 lost 567.87 points to 9,150.11.
The FBMT 100 Index declined 228.87 points to 8,185.84 and the FBM Ace slipped 165.13 points to 3,264.28.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 5.95 points to 92.26, the Financial Services Index gave up 296.31 points to 11,053.17 and the Plantation Index was 32.91 points lower at 5,557.44. — March 19, 2020, Bernama