KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia ended the week in red territory, with losses led by healthcare-linked counters as Malaysia administered 117,563 doses of Covid-19 vaccines yesterday, the highest ever since the vaccination programme started in February.
Among the indexes, the healthcare index erased almost 2% to 3,066.07.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 12.12 points, or 0.76%, to 1,578.45 from yesterday’s close of 1,590.57.
The market barometer opened 0.27 points lower at 1,590.30 and hovered between 1,573.34 and 1,590.31 throughout the session.
Overall, market breadth was negative with losers leading gainers 605 to 451, while 430 counters were unchanged, 656 untraded, and 12 others suspended.
Total volume rose to 7.21 billion units worth RM3.57 billion from 6.91 billion units worth RM3.6 billion recorded at yesterday’s close.
The ringgit weakened further against the US dollar today due to increased appetite for the greenback, said a dealer.
At 6pm, the local note went down to 4.1275/1285 against the US dollar from yesterday’s close of 4.1235/1250.
A dealer said the market would be monitoring the US employment rate and the US non-farm payroll to be released later today for a clearer gauge on the ringgit/US dollar movement.
Meanwhile, the local note traded higher against a basket of major currencies.
The ringgit appreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.1076/1086 from yesterday’s 3.1154/1167, and strengthened against the euro to 5.0013/0025 from 5.0323/0342 yesterday.
The domestic unit advanced against the yen to 3.7482/7494 from 3.7603/7620 yesterday and rose against the British pound to 5.8313/8327 from 5.8533/8559 previously. – Bernama, June 4, 2021
