KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia closed marginally lower on Friday, as cautious sentiment persisted, with investors remaining on the sidelines amid ongoing conflicts in West Asia, said an analyst. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 2.80 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 1,695.50 from Thursday’s close of 1,698.30. The benchmark index opened 5.82 points higher at 1,704.12, and moved between 1,693.65 and 1,708.12 throughout the day. However, market breadth remained positive, with gainers outnumbering losers 634 to 415, while 521 counters were unchanged, 1,077 untraded and 10 suspended. Turnover improved to 3.38 billion units worth RM2.95 billion from yesterday’s 3.20 billion units worth RM3.50 billion.
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 13): The FBM KLCI closed 0.24% lower today, dragged by a sell-off in tourism and banking stocks following renewed fears of the Covid-19 outbreak arising from a sudden jump in death toll announced by China today.
The benchmark index erased early gains to close 3.78 points lower at 1,539.16, from a selldown in Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd, Hong Leong and CIMB stocks.
TA Research analyst Stephen Soo said he expects the KLCI to drift lower towards the weekend amid renewed fears over the Covid-19 outbreak coupled with the recently-announced weak GDP numbers for Malaysia for 4Q19.
“There was some bargain hunting amongst mid- and small-cap stocks but the market had not priced in any upside from the upcoming economic stimulus package from the Government pending more details,” Soo told theedgemarkets.com.
The global death toll from Covid-19 topped 1,300 today, after health authorities at the outbreak centre in Hubei, China announced 242 new deaths — representing the largest single day rise since the epidemic began and almost 10 times the number of cases confirmed the previous day, CNN reported.
At the time of writing, there were 60,392 confirmed cases with 1,369 deaths and 6,081 cured cases.
Across the wider Bursa Malaysia, buying interest persisted with 452 counters in the green against 361 decliners, while 415 counters closed unchanged.
Throughout the day, the bourse saw 2.74 billion shares valued at RM2.3 billion traded.
Gainers were led by Carlsberg Brewery (M) Bhd, which hit a record high of RM35.66 — up RM2.26 — as it was included in the MSCI Global Standard Index today.
On the contrary, British American Tobacco (M) Bhd led the decliners after it was removed from the MSCI Global Index and placed in the MSCI Malaysia Small-Cap Index. The counter closed 72 sen lower at RM11.60.
Among other Asian indices, China’s SSE Composite Index retreated 0.71%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slid 0.34% while Singapore’s Strait Times Index fell 0.2%.
Source: The Edge
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