KUALA LUMPUR (April 3): The FBM KLCI remained in the negative zone at the midday break Friday after FTSE Russell said it will continue to monitor Malaysia for a possible downgrade in its World Government Bond Index.

Local sentiment was dampened after Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) depicted a less-than-favourable outlook for Malaysia in 2020 in its 2019 Annual Report.

BNM said the country’s economy could contract by as much as 2% due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Malaysia now has the highest number of reported coronavirus infections in Southeast Asia with more than 3,100 cases and 50 deaths.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI fell 5.51 points to 1,325.39. The index had earlier risen to a high of 1,333.82.

Losers overtook gainers by 398 to 177, while 441 counters traded unchanged. Trading volume was a hefty 3.47 billion shares valued at RM1.38 billion.

The top losers included Nestle (M) Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd, Public Bank Bhd, KESM Industries Bhd, SAM Engineering & Equipment (M) Bhd, Genting Plantations Bhd and Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd.

The actives included Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd, Velesto Energy Bhd, Bumi Armada Bhd, Sapura Energy Bhd, Alam Maritim Resources Bhd, KNM Group Bhd, Dayang Enterprise Holdings Bhd and AirAsia Group Bhd.

The gainers included Panasonic Manufacturing Malaysia Bhd, Hartalega Holdings Bhd, PMB Technology Bhd, Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd, Time dotCom Bhd, Sarawak Consolidated Industries Bhd, Frontken Corp Bhd and Linkaran Trans Kota Holdings Bhd.

Reuters said Thai, Indonesian and Vietnamese stocks on Friday tracked Wall Street's gains as oil prices posted their biggest one-day surge, while the Singapore market fell on grim economic data from China.

US stocks rallied on Thursday on hopes for a truce in the price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia and a cut in oil output, despite a surge in the number of Americans filing jobless claims due to coronavirus-related shutdowns, it said.

Kenanga IB Research said Asian stocks finished mixed yesterday as coronavirus warnings from the US have instilled more fears into the market.

It said back home, the FBM KLCI gained 8.24 points or 0.62% to finish at 1,330.90.

“Chart-wise, the index persists to trend below all the key SMAs.

“Nonetheless, coupled with a bullish MACD signal, we may see a continuation of recent intermittent technical rebounds from an oversold position.

“On the chart, our support levels are at 1,310 (S1) and 1,240 (S2). Conversely, the resistance levels are now set at 1,360 (R1) and 1,400 (R2),” it said.