Bursa Malaysia ends lower, market cautious on Omicron variant

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed lower yesterday as the market remained under pressure throughout the day due to lack of buying interest and was further dampened by the spillover effects of regional sell down, said an analyst.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) lost 0.11 per cent or 1.65 points to end at 1,510.57 from 1,512.22 last Friday.

The index, which opened 4.43 points weaker at 1,507.79, moved between 1,501.51 and 1,516.60 throughout the trading session.

On the broader market, decliners thumped gainers 790 to 351, while 376 counters were unchanged, 795 untraded, and 78 others suspended.

Turnover increased to 6.14 billion units worth RM5.19 billion from Friday’s 4.90 billion units worth RM3.48 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vicepresident of equity research Thong Pak Leng said key regional markets also ended lower as investors were cautious over the recently discovered Omicron Covid-19 variant, which may potentially reinstate full lockdowns in some countries and possibly slowing down the economic recovery.

“We reckon investor sentiment will remain jittery, hence, we expect the FBM KLCI to trend in a range bound and hovering within the 1,500-1,520 range for the week.

“From a technical point of view, we see the immediate support at 1,500 and resistance at 1,530,” he told Bernama.

On Bursa Malaysia, Maybank dropped five sen to RM8.05, Public Bank eased four sen to RM3.96, Petronas Chemicals shed 22 sen to RM8.21, Tenaga dipped 12 sen to RM9.26, while IHH rose four sen to RM6.60. Of the actives, AT Systematization was flat at 5.5 sen, Careplus added 10 sen to RM1.32 and Top Glove jumped 55 sen to RM3.19.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 24.26 points to 11,054.87, the FBMT 100 Index slid 22.41 points to 10,740.24, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 20.18 points to 12,060.92.

The FBM 70 lost 72.29 points to 14,382.32 but the FBM ACE climbed 52.60 points to 6,515.90.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 4.16 points to 192.05, the Financial Services Index reduced 100.26 points to 15,043.41, and the Plantation Index fell 108.72 points to 6,356.32.

The Main Market volume went up to 3.44 billion shares valued at RM4.38 billion versus Friday’s 3.05 billion shares worth RM2.93 billion. Warrants turnover surged to 518.29 million units worth RM66.39 million against 465.64 million units valued at RM100.01 million previously.

The volume on the ACE Market increased to 2.17 billion shares valued at RM747.12 million from 1.38 billion shares valued at RM456.49 million on Friday.