KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia ended mixed with the key index in the red amid cautious sentiment as Covid-19 cases remained above 6,000 on Monday.
At 5pm, the benchmark FBM KLCI eased 0.99 of-a-point to 1,532.36 from Friday’s close of 1,533.35.
The market bellwether opened 0.69 of-a-point higher at 1,534.04 and moved between 1,525.40 and 1,535.88 throughout the day.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 526 to 503, while 402 counters were unchanged, 742 untraded and nine others suspended.
Turnover increased to 6.5 billion units worth RM3.59 billion from 5.51 billion units worth RM2.88 billion recorded last Friday.
Malaysia recorded 6,387 new Covid-19 infections today.
Meanwhile, a dealer said investors were cautious and would be monitoring Bank Negara Malaysia’s decision after its monetary policy committee meeting on Thursday.
In its research note earlier today, Kenanga Research said of much interest would be the central bank’s stance on whether to stand pat or cut interest rates, as well as its latest economic outlook in light of the government’s recent measures to further tighten Covid-19 restrictions.
Bursa Malaysia’s heavyweights, Maybank gained two sen to RM8.13, Public Bank and IHH Healthcare were one sen higher to RM4.12 and RM5.62 respectively, while Petronas Chemicals rose three sen to RM8.10, TNB were flat at RM9.73 and CIMB fell three sen to RM4.61.
Of the actives, Serba Dinamik jumped 10 sen to 48.5 sen, Kumpulan Jetson advanced 19 sen to 55.5 sen, Sedania Innovator surged 30 sen to RM1.06, while Pasukhas and Sarawak Consolidated added 1.5 sen each to 30 sen and 82.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gave up 11.19 points to 11,149.72, the FBMT 100 Index fell 15.43 points to 10,857.99, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 12.84 points to 12,163.27.
The FBM ACE soared 117.81 points to 7,329.02, while the FBM 70 was 53.45 points weaker at 14,396.88.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index decreased 10.43 points to 15,117.02, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 1.09 of-a-point higher at 188.02, and the Plantation Index shed 34.25 points to 6,381.57.
Main Market volume expanded to 4.84 billion shares valued at RM2.93 billion from Friday’s 3.72 billion shares valued at RM2.35 billion.
Warrants turnover widened to 241.76 million units worth RM21.83 million from 223.33 million units worth RM24.62 million previously.
Volume on the ACE Market eased to 1.42 billion shares worth RM634.26 million from 1.57 billion shares worth RM502.05 million.
The ringgit ended stronger against the US dollar, supported by Brent crude price touching US$76 per barrel ahead of a meeting between the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (Opec+).
At 6pm, the local note rose to 4.1560/1575 versus the greenback from 4.1600/1650 at Friday’s close.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said the Opec+ meeting was extended from last week as the United Arab Emirates was unwilling to go along with the reported preliminary deal for a 0.5 million barrel per day hike in production.
“Perhaps expectations that Opec+ will cautiously ease output cuts to meet demand has caused investors to be more upbeat on the oil market,” he told Bernama. – Bernama, July 5, 2021
