Bursa Malaysia declined in early trading Monday ahead of the government's announcement of action to be taken following the sharp increase in Covid-19 infection cases.
At 9.15 this morning, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) key index fell 20.50 points to 1,612.69 after declining 5.97 points to 1,627.22 during the opening hours, compared to 1,633.19 when it closed last Friday.
In the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers by 645 to 168 while 1,090 counters were unchanged, 181 untraded and 13 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.29 billion units worth RM8.42 million.
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is scheduled to make a special announcement today on measures to be implemented by the government to curb the increase in Covid-19 cases in the country.
Commenting on the development, Malacca Securities expects the public health measures to be announced to be more decisive.
"As the prospect of economic recovery continues to be overshadowed by the increase in Covid-19 cases, we are of the view that low-priced stocks will continue to be under pressure due to concerns over short-term supply chain disruptions when factories and warehouses have to be temporarily closed," he said in a research note today. .
The brokerage firm also believes that the glove manufacturer's shares on the other hand continue to increase as investors worry about the implementation of movement restrictions for the second round in the country.
"We remain positive on the prospects of the healthcare sector as purchasing activity continues following concerns over the Covid-19 case. At the same time, the increase in crude oil prices has also led to an increase for the energy sector, ”he said.
In addition, the outlook for the Wall Street market is positive following the rising performance of the first week of 2021 on all Dow boards as investors continue to hope to see a more stable political situation in addition to the potential dollar stimulus package urged by future President Joe Biden.
At the local level, heavyweights saw 33 counters in negative territory, led by Maybank and Press Metal which declined 23 sen to RM8.17 and RM8.17 respectively.
PetChem also lost 20 sen to RM7.36, TNB lost 22 sen to RM10.30 and CIMB lost 12 sen to RM3.99.
KLK on the other hand gained 66 sen to RM24.66 and IHH rose seven sen to RM5.68.
For active stocks, AT Syetematization was flat at 19 sen, Iris declined 1.5 sen to 34 sen and Priceworth was flat at 2.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Gold Index Index declined 143.68 points to 11,493.77, the FBMT 100 Index declined 143.52 points to 11,264.29 and the FBM Gold Shariah Index fell 135.97 points to 13,017.07.
FBM 70 declined 183.49 points to 14,304.62 and FBM ACE fell 127.27 points to 10,370.14.
By sector, the Financial Services Index fell 221.84 points to 14,786.27 and the Industrial Products and Services Index declined 3.11 points to 171.47 but the Plantation Index rose 30.90 points to 7,449.19.
