Ongoing buying activity among investors following speculation about an early election that is becoming more pronounced has caused Bursa Malaysia to open lower this morning.
At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) benchmark declined 7.31 points at 1,487.89 after opening 0.89 points lower at 1,493.31.
According to Bernama, losers outnumbered gainers by 320 to 102 while 273 counters were unchanged, 1454 untraded and 80 others suspended.
Turnover was 388.31 million worth RM150.01 million.
The energy counter recorded the biggest loss with a decline of 1.34 percent to 655.74 points after Brent crude fell below US $ 40 a barrel.
The market closed yesterday in conjunction with the Maulidur Rasul public holiday.
An analyst said the recommendations made at the UMNO meeting yesterday had raised investor concerns that the 15th General Election would be held early next year after the COVID-19 pandemic came under control.
"Actually, there are two sides in this matter. The good thing is that political uncertainty will end and on the other hand it will stop investor confidence in the long run, and this could slow down the economic recovery, ”he said.
The UMNO Supreme Working Council (MKT) Special Meeting yesterday decided that the people's mandate be restored to create a stable government by holding a general election (GE) after the COVID-19 pandemic can be controlled and at a minimum.
Meanwhile, from a technical point of view, he added that with this situation continuing in the market, the KLCI benchmark will continue to decline and test the 1,450 level with immediate resistance at 1,500.
"Excessive sales position will continue until the emergence of new catalysts that can change the situation," he said.
As for the global movement, the US presidential election on November 3 also had an impact on market direction.
For heavyweight counter performance, Petronas Chemicals declined 10 sen to RM5.85, Axiata and Top Glove declined eight sen to RM2.96 and RM8.70 respectively while Public Bank declined 12 sen to RM15.56.
Petronas Chemicals and Public Bank also topped the counter this morning.
For the most active counters, it was dominated by technology counters with Vivocom rising half-a-sen to 50 sen, Dataprep adding 1.5 sen to 21 sen while gainers, British American Tobacco rose 21 sen to RM10.16 driven by better quarterly earnings performance.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 53.60 points to 10,767.03, the FBMT 100 Index declined 53.06 points to 10,578.79 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 68.52 points lower at 12,909.83.
Meanwhile, FBM 70 decreased 75.56 points to 14,168.58 and FBM ACE weakened 49.61 points to 9,770.93.
The Financial Services Index declined 42.32 points to 12,218.49, the Industrial Products and Services Index declined 1.05 points to 142.79 and the Plantation Index jumped 2.33 points to 6,924.89.
