Bursa M’sia ends lower as banks weigh ahead of OPR decision

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended in the negative territory yesterday despite the announcement by the Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin of a RM15 billion Malaysian Economic and Rakyat’s Protection Assistance Package (PERMAI) comprising 22 initiatives to combat Covid-19.

At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 17.49 points to 1,609.52 from 1,627.01 at last Friday’s close.

The index opened 1.66 points weaker at 1,625.35 and moved between 1,608.64 and 1,625.35 throughout the session.

On the broader market, losers trounced gainers 716 to 457, while 430 counters were unchanged, 493 untraded and 13 others suspended.

Total volume was higher at 7.16 billion units worth RM4.3 billion from 5.85 billion units worth RM4.06 billion last Friday.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said the FBM KLCI had an uneasy start to the week, declining 1.07 per cent with the banking sector dominating laggards.

“Although China’s economy bounced back in the last quarter as factory output jumped, perhaps speculation on another rate cut amid the economic pressure from the latest Movement Control Order during the Bank Negara Malaysia policy meeting this Wednesday may have caused the selloffs in the banking sector.

“Banking stocks which are constituents of the FBM KLCI, namely Public Bank, Maybank, CIMB and Hong Leong Bank were all lower by at least 1.0 per cent during the day.

“Henceforth, it is no surprise that the Bursa Malaysia Financial Services Index was the biggest decliner among sectoral indices a er dropping by 1.4 per cent on Monday,” he told Bernama.

However, Adam said the prime minister’s latest stimulus package announcement in light of the Covid-19 pandemic with no blanket moratorium mentioned, should alleviate any pressures on the banking sector.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank eased 17 sen to RM8.08, CIMB declined 10 sen to RM4.00, PChem dropped 23 sen to RM7.28, while Public Bank was 22 sen lower at RM20.98 and Hong Leong Bank decreased 36 sen to RM17.44.

In contrast, Petronas Dagangan gained six sen to RM21.30 and Hartalega rose 16 sen to RM12.36.

Of the actives, Lambo, Key Alliance and Pegasus Heights were flat at three sen, five sen and 2.5 sen, respectively.

Meanwhile, PRG eased one sen to 27.5 sen and AT Systematization was down half-a-sen at 18 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 77.38 points to 11,628.96, the FBMT 100 Index fell 84.72 points to 11,355.81, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index shed 32.89 points to 13,171.8.

The FBM 70 gained 39.64 points to 14,868.06 and the FBM ACE was 92.25 points be er at 10,888.36.