KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 5 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia ended the day mixed, going against the better regional market performance which echoed the Wall Street’s rally amidst the strong global economic recovery.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 surged 1.54 per cent to 28,779.19, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.60 per cent to 29,288.68, while Singapore Straits Times gained 0.07 per cent to 2,907.06.
In contrast, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 6.27 points or 0.39 per cent to 1,578.63 at 5 pm from Thursday’s close of 1,584.90.
The barometer index opened 2.8 points higher at 1,587.70 and hovered between a low of 1,574.69 and a high of 1,590.47 throughout the day.
On the broader market, gainers surpassed losers 549 to 532, while 504 counters were unchanged, 545 untraded and 11 others suspended.
Total volume declined to 6.09 billion units worth RM4.15 billion from 8.04 billion units worth RM4.17 billion recorded at yesterday’s close.
The local bourse was abuzz with profit-taking activities today ahead of the weekend, as the social media-driven frenzy to buy rubber glove stocks continued to fade.
Thankfully, the local bourse received some support from the small caps counters, resulting in the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Small Cap index rising by 0.35 per cent to 65.22.
Meanwhile, the healthcare index fell by almost one per cent or 32.42 points to close at 3,577.50 on Friday, as healthcare heavyweights IHH, Hartalega and Supermax erased 12 sen each to RM5.07, RM13.24 and RM6.67, respectively, while Top Glove (TG) reduced 10 sen to RM6.61.
Altogether, the counters dragged the composite index down by 5.1 points.
“Aside from just profit-taking, the social media-driven retail frenzy to buy top glove shares continues to fade as rubber glove counters, including TG, Hartalega and Supermax declined today,” Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said to Bernama.
He said the nation’s immunisation plan may be exacerbating the selling in glove counters, as it stoked fears of declining demand for rubber gloves.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, set to roll out at end-February — the country’s biggest vaccination effort ever.
Muhyiddin said that 80 per cent of the country’s population, or approximately 26.5 million people, are expected to receive the vaccine free of charge.
Meanwhile, among the heavyweights, Maybank slipped three sen to RM7.86, Public Bank rose four sen to RM4.12, Petronas Chemicals increased 14 sen to RM7.35, while Tenaga was flat at RM9.70.
Of the actives, I-Stone added 1.5 sen to 25 sen, Luster shed one sen to 21.5 sen and QES Group was two sen weaker at 49.5 sen.
Top gainers are Genetec, which jumped 67 sen to RM4.40, Kumpulan H&L High-Tech which increased 51 sen to RM2.46, and Teo Guan Lee Corp which was 35 sen higher at RM1.53.
Nestle topped the losing counters, erasing RM1 to RM137.00, followed by Computer Forms which deleted 58 sen to RM2.38 and Danainfra which reduced 50 sen to RM103.00.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 27.93 points to 11,502.32, the FBMT 100 Index went down 33.28 points to 11,229.56 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 32.55 points weaker at 13,062.36.
The FBM 70 inched down 1.13 points to 15,059.82 and FBM ACE depreciated 55.60 points to 10,861.23.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index contracted 23 points to 14,576.90, the Plantation Index declined 67.06 points to 7,140.71, while the Industrial Products and Services Index was 1.84 points better at 176.55.
The Main Market volume fell to 3.32 billion shares worth RM2.9 billion from 4.57 billion shares worth RM3.23 billion recorded at Thursday’s close.
Warrants turnover narrowed to 345.55 million units valued at RM61.09 million versus 425.49 million units valued at RM71.42 million previously.
Volume on the ACE Market decreased to 2.41 billion shares worth RM1.19 billion against 3.04 billion shares worth RM868.18 million yesterday.
Consumer products and services accounted for 397.18 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.15 billion), construction (164.78 million), technology (613.33 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (172.99 million), property (176.73 million), plantations (43.65 million), REITs (10.63 million), closed/fund (15,800), energy (357.84 million), healthcare (44.56 million), telecommunications and media (75.78 million), transportation and logistics (78.73 million), and utilities (28.87 million).
— Bernama
