KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (July 8): The FBM KLCI fell 1.4 percent, or 21.44 points, to 1,508.71 Thursday, marking the index’s lowest level in over a year. Twenty-eight of the index’s thirty counters showed losses, while just one posted gains, and one closed unchanged.
Mr DIY Group (M) Bhd, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, and Telekom Malaysia Bhd were the top decliners among the FBM KLCI’s members. Petronas Gas Bhd was the lone gainer, while Digi.Com Bhd remained unchanged.
According to Loui Low, head of research at Malacca Securities, the decrease in investor mood was caused by a combination of causes.
For one thing, the increased number of Covid-19 cases has lowered expectations for the economy’s recovery in the second phase of the National Recovery Plan.
Recent political events, as well as the weaker Dow Jones futures, have weighed on mood.
As a result, he said, “all of these factors have been factored into today’s collapse.”
The FBM KLCI has dropped 4.7 percent in the last year.
The market breadth was too strongly in the negative, with 1,055 counters declining versus 147 counters rising and 287 counters remaining constant.
Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd, Advance Synergy Bhd, and Pelikan International Corp Bhd were among the top actives, while Kumpulan H & L High-Tech Bhd, Widetech (Malaysia) Bhd, and Y&G Corp Bhd were among the top gainers. Genetec Technology Bhd, Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd, and Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd were among the major losers.
In today’s market news, Bank Negara Malaysia declared that the overnight policy rate (OPR) would be maintained at 1.75 percent. The country’s economic outlook remains vulnerable to major downside risks, owing to factors such as a delay in the relaxing of containment measures or the imposition of stronger containment measures, as well as a slower-than-expected global recovery.
Today’s falls at Bursa Malaysia were not unexpected. The Straits Times Index was down 1.08 percent or 34.01 points at 3,107.59, while other regional bourses were mostly in the red.
China’s stock markets were also down. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong down 2.89 percent, or 807.49 points, to 27,153.13, while the Shanghai Composite dropped 0.79 percent, or 28.21 points, to 3,525.5.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.88 percent, or 248.92 points, to 28,118.03.
Stocks, notably Chinese equities, were down on concerns about a Chinese crackdown on technology businesses, according to Reuters./n
