KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia ended lower today 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 5pm, the FBM KLCI ended at its intraday low of 1,596.58, down 10.99 points, compared to yesterday’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 yesterday.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said India’s Covid-19 surge 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 Brent crude prices lower, and subsequently causing the Bursa Malaysia Energy index to drop by 1.7%, registering the largest loss among the sectoral indices.
Most heavyweights were in the red with only glove counters in 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.
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.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index shed 70.01 points to 11,755.12, the FBMT 100 trimmed 75.78 points to 11,410.77, while the FBM 70 fell 92.47 points to 15,510.45.
The FBM Emas Shariah slid 79.49 points to 13,152.59 and the FBM ACE was 66.58 points weaker at 8,526.08.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index declined 62 points to 6,818.03, the Financial Services Index slipped 81.73 points to 15,011.42, and the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.32 of-a-point lower at 194.76.
Main Market volume rose to 5.03 billion shares worth RM3.35 billion against 4.42 billion shares worth RM2.81 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover increased to 364.98 million units valued at RM49.19 million from 307.88 million units valued at RM36.56 million previously.
Volume on the ACE Market declined to 3.29 billion shares worth RM1 billion from 3.44 billion shares worth RM1.23 billion yesterday. – Bernama, April 21, 2021
