Bursa ends lower as vaccination programme intensifies selling in glove counters

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed at its intraday low for the third consecutive day yesterday, as selling in glove heavyweights intensified in conjunction with the implementation of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme yesterday.

The market barometer also moved in tandem with the downtrend seen in most of regional peers on Tuesday.

At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) lost 7.50 points, or 0.48 per cent, to 1,557.55 from 1,565.05 at Tuesday’s closing.

The key index opened 5.96 points firmer at 1,571.01 and moved between 1,557.55 and 1,581.55 throughout the day.

Market breadth was negative with losers thumping gainers 995 to 332, while 404 counters were unchanged, 467 untraded and 15 others suspended.

Total volume was higher at 12.70 billion units worth RM7.01 billion compared with 11.45 billion units worth RM5.54 billion on Tuesday.

Among the 30 FBM KLCI constituents, rubber glove makers, namely Top Glove, Hartalega, and Supermax suffered the largest drop as traders believed the vaccine roll-out would curb demand for rubber gloves.

At the close, Top Glove lost 44 sen to RM5.23, Hartalega fell 66 sen to RM10.40 and Supermax declined 41 sen to RM5.04.

Other FBM KLCI counters which were in the red included Telekom which retreated 22 sen to RM6.23 and RHB Bank which was six sen lower at RM5.30.

Of the actives, XOX and its warrant perked up halfa-sen each to 9.5 sen and 2.5 sen respectively, YKGI went up 8.5 sen to 26 sen, Techna-X slipped three sen to 16 sen, while Metronic Global was unchanged at 10.5 sen.

Top losers included Carlsberg which dropped 70 sen to RM23.30, Sam Engineering and Equipment fell 43 sen to RM7.00, and Pharmaniaga declined 36 sen to RM4.40.