Bursa M’sia pulls back to end lower amid Covid-19 concerns
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended lower yesterday as the market pullback continued due to persistent worries over the Covid-19 impact and weaker oil prices.
The local market also moved in tandem with regional bourses amid worries over the economic consequences of Covid-19 and uncertainty surrounding oil demand.
At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended at its intraday low of 1,596.58, down 10.99 points, compared to Tuesday’s close of 1,607.57.
The market bellwether opened 2.70 points higher at 1,604.87 and fluctuated between 1,596.58 and 1,605.73 throughout the session.
Overall market breadth was negative with losers outpacing gainers 551 to 509, while 443 counters were unchanged, 663 untraded and seven others suspended.
Total volume increased to 8.68 billion shares worth RM4.40 billion from 8.16 billion shares worth RM4.08 billion on Tuesday.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said India reported its worst daily Covid-19 death toll on Tuesday, with large parts of the country now under lockdown, which had led to concerns over the global economic trajectory this year.
“In addition, a new wave of Covid-19 cases in Japan has increased the likelihood that Tokyo, Osaka and surrounding areas will be put on lockdown.
“All in all, this has outweighed the optimism from vaccination rates in the US, United Kingdom and Europe,” Adam told Bernama, adding this had also caused jitters in the oil market.
He said there were worries over oil demand, pushing the Brent crude price lower, and subsequently causing the Bursa Malaysia energy index to drop by 1.7 per cent, registering the largest loss among the sectoral indices.
Most heavyweights were in the red with only glove counters in the positive territory due to optimism over continued demand for rubber gloves, which would support their average selling price, amid the rise in Covid-19 cases.
Telecommunications counters led the losers, with Axiata shedding 19 sen to RM3.81, Maxis dipped 10 sen to RM4.68, Digi declined five sen to RM4.20, and TM slid 11 sen to RM5.83.
CIMB eased seven sen to RM4.22, Sime Darby Plantations reduced eight sen to RM4.43 and Petronas Chemicals was six sen lower at RM7.79.
Top Glove rose five sen to RM5.45, Supermax added 14 sen to RM5.54 and Hartalega surged 25 sen to RM10.02.
Among the active counters, Key Asic edged up half-a-sen to 21 sen, Ucrest slashed 11 sen to 48.5 sen, SC Estate Builder lost 2.5 sen to 10 sen, and Censof was down two sen to 46 sen.