KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 ― Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session in the red, with the barometer index pressured by persistent selling in heavyweights and in line with regional peers.
Asian stocks took the cue from an overnight sharp drop on Wall Street on fears over the fallout from the virus outbreak.
At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 9.42 points lower at 1,481.61 from yesterday’s close of 1,491.03.
After opening 4.19 points lower at 1,486.84 this morning, the local index moved between 1,479.74 and 1,486.84 throughout the morning session.
On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers by 578 to 212, with 292 counters unchanged, 915 untraded and 17 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 1.53 billion shares worth RM1.10 billion.
A dealer said the local bourse stayed in the red since opening with selling pressure seen across the board.
He said the further drop in crude oil prices to below US$50 a barrel amid uncertainty over Russia agreement to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’s proposal for a large production cut is also not supporting the local market.
AxiCorp chief market strategist Stephen Innes said investors were starting to price in the worst-case scenarios in anticipating that the spread of the Covid-19 virus will grow throughout Europe and the US.
Investors are now accelerating their hedging game plans for the eventuality of the Eurozone falling into recession and the US economy stagnating in the first half of the year, he noted.
“With no material developments around the virus itself overnight, assessments of the economic costs look to have weighed on sentiment as the reality sets in that a significant chunk of global gross domestic product is set to go up in flames,” he added.
Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 3.08 per cent to 20,672.74, Singapore's Straits Times lndex slipped 1.76 per cent to 2,965.05, South Korea's KOSPI Composite Index fell 2.35 per cent to 2,036.23, Shanghai’s Stock Exchange Index was down 0.98 per cent at 3,041.65 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was 2.15 per cent lower at 26,193.43.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank reduced three sen to RM8.50, Tenaga shed four sen to RM12.60, Public Bank fell 44 sen to RM17.56, IHH eased one sen each to RM5.59 and Petronas Chemicals slipped six sen to RM5.60.
Of the actives, Vortex eased half-a-sen to seven sen, Sapura Energy slid one sen to 16 sen, Careplus added 3.5 sen to 33 sen while MTouche was flat at 13.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index dipped 85.07 points to 10,448.14, the FBM Emas Shariah Index shed 65.85 points to 11,124.15 and the FBM 70 dropped 162.67 points to 12,758.12.
The FBMT 100 Index was 80.49 points lower at 10,273.80 but the FBM Ace rose 16.25 points to 5,309.69.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 1.34 points to 135.52, the Financial Services Index tumbled 127.43 points to 14,333.28 and the Plantation Index slid 14.64 points to 6,752.13. ― Bernama