Bursa M’sia ends lower as nationwide MCO weighs on market
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed lower for the second consecutive day yesterday with selling spotted across the board as the nationwide expansion of the movement control order (MCO) weighed on market sentiment.
Nevertheless, the better-thanexpected first-quarter 2021 (1Q21) gross domestic product (GDP) performance helped to cushion the downside.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 6.28 points or 0.39 per cent to 1,577.64 from Monday’s close of 1,583.92.
The key index, which opened 4.61 points weaker at 1,579.31 this morning, fluctuated between 1,571.96 and 1,581.26 throughout the session.
Overall market breadth was negative as losers greatly outnumbered gainers 980 to 199, while 360 counters were unchanged, 629 untraded, and 12 others suspended.
Total volume decreased to 5.5 billion shares worth RM2.9 billion from 6.01 billion shares worth RM3.53 billion on Monday.
On Monday, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced that the whole country would be placed under the MCO from May 12 until June 7 to curb the recent spike in Covid-19 infections.
Meanwhile, Bank Negara Malaysia yesterday announced the country’s economy recorded a 0.5 per cent contraction in Q1 2021 compared with a decrease of 3.4 per cent in the preceding quarter, signalling a recovery with improvement seen in all economic sectors.
Governor Datuk Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus said Malaysia remained on track to achieve its forecast Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of between 6.0 per cent and 7.5 per cent in 2021, riding on the recovery in domestic demand.
Commenting on the equity market, Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said the implementation of MCO nationwide has badly affected the overall market sentiment.
“The 1Q21 economic performance was not sufficient to boost the local bourse as banking stocks under the FBM KLCI were either unchanged or lower during the day,” he told Bernama.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank shed five sen to RM8.19, PChem trimmed three sen to RM8.22, IHH Healthcare lost eight sen to RM5.58, while Public Bank was flat at RM4.10.
However, Tenaga added one sen to RM9.91 while Press Metal and Top Glove bagged two sen each to RM5.40 and RM5.18 respectively.
Of the actives, Focus Dynamics slid 1.5 sen to 6.5 sen, Fintec inched down half-a-sen to four sen, while Pegasus and AT Systematization were both flat at two sen and nine sen respectively.