BURSA Malaysia ended the morning session lower today, in line with most Asian markets amid renewed concerns over the global economic outlook despite recovering crude oil prices, dealers said.
At midday, the benchmark index FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) decreased 7.64 points to 1,374 from 1,381.64 at Thursday’s close.
The key index, which opened 5.47 points lower at 1,376.17, moved between 1,367.49 and 1,377.71 in the morning session.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 387 to 321, while 336 counters were unchanged, 867 untraded and 28 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 2.59 billion shares worth RM1.15 bil.
A dealer said global stocks snapped two weeks of gains this week as optimism about slowing Covid-19 infection rates in some locations faded in face of poor economic data.
“Treasuries added to recent gains, while oil prices continued to mend after their early-week collapse,” he added.
Meanwhile, recent data from the US showed total job losses now exceed 26 million amid shutdowns across the country, while an estimate of private-sector activity in the Euro area plunged to the lowest since it began more than two decades ago.
Among Bursa heavyweights, Maybank was two sen lower at RM7.40, TNB slipped eight sen to RM12.22, Public Bank fell four sen to RM15.82, IHH Healthcare went down one sen to RM5.19, and Petronas Chemicals lost nine sen to RM5.30.
Among the actives, Sanichi Technology, Velesto Energy and AirAsia X were flat at 4.5 sen, 14.5 sen and 11 sen, respectively, while Xidelang earned half-a-sen to 7.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 34.89 points to 9,583, the FBM Emas Shariah Index shed 51.59 points to 10,624.47, the FBMT 100 Index declined 38.16 points to 9,460.25, but the FBM 70 rose 13.54 points to 11,462.04 and the FBM ACE gained 18.49 points to 4,414.83.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index contracted 23.46 points to 12,285.44, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.77 of a point to 116.07 and the Plantation Index dipped 34.56 points to 6,123.67. — April 24, 2020, Bernama
