Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 21): The main index at Bursa Malaysia slumped 0.76% at the midday break today and slipped below the 1,500-level as healthcare stocks fell, with glove makers sliding on profit taking after the recent rally.

Meanwhile, Malaysia’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) declined 1.4% year-on-year in September 2020 to 120.1 from 121.8.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI lost 11.54 points to 1,499.43.

Market breadth turned negative as losers led gainers by 489 to 202, while 703 counters traded unchanged. Trading volume was 5.70 billion shares valued at RM3.66 billion.

The top losers included Hartalega Holdings Bhd, Supermax Corp Bhd, Top Glove Corp Bhd, Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd, Comfort Gloves Bhd, Pintaras Jaya Bhd, Adventa Bhd, Rubberex Corp Bhd and Aeon Credit Service (M) Bhd.

The actively traded stocks included Luster Industries Bhd, Mah Sing Group Bhd, Pegasus Heights Bhd, Impiana Hotels Bhd, Diversified Gateway Solutions Bhd and Vortex Consolidated Bhd.

The gainers included Nestle (M) Bhd, Khind Bhd, Kumpulan Powernet Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, Time dotCom Bhd and ViTrox Corp Bhd.

Reuters said Asian shares and US stock futures rose on Wednesday as renewed hopes for a new round of US stimulus drew money into equities from government debt.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.56%. Australian stocks edged up by 0.1%, while shares in China rose 0.07%. Tokyo shares gained 0.4%, it said.

Hong Leong IB Research said despite closing above the critical 200D SMA support (now at 1,497) and the major support trendline from 1,474 low, KLCI is still engaged in a tug-of-war between the bulls and bears amid rising headwinds ahead of the US presidential election and a resurgence in Covid-19 infections globally.

“Moreover, more targeted lockdowns amid spiking Covid-19 local transmissions in Malaysia may dampen our expectations for a 2H20 economic and corporate earnings recovery,” it said.

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