Covid-19 Case Development Investor Relief

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 Bursa Malaysia opened higher but declined later, tracking Wall Street's cautious performance ahead of the US Federal Reserve's policy meeting early Thursday morning.


At 9.08am, the benchmark FBM KLCI slipped 2.0 points to 1,623.96 from 1,623.96 at the close on Tuesday.


Bernama reported that the index opened 1.65 points higher at 1,625.61.


In the market as a whole, gainers outnumbered losers by 290 to 217, while 356 counters were unchanged, 1,374 untraded and nine others suspended.


Turnover stood at 1.46 billion shares worth RM256.47 billion.


Malacca Securities said the US stock market slipped from recent highs as the Dow (-0.4%) ended seven consecutive days of gains following lower retail sales data (-3.0% month-on-month) and manufacturing output (-4.1%). % month -on -month) in February 2021.


The Nasdaq rose 0.9%, driven by technology stocks.


Locally, the firm is confident that the low daily Covid-19 case recorded yesterday will continue to drive market sentiment in a positive environment, however the uptrend is expected to be constrained by mixed Wall Street sentiment overnight.


“In terms of commodities, Brent crude oil saw a decline following renewed concerns about demand due to a new wave of pandemic cases in Europe, while crude palm oil (CPO) declined following market expectations of increased production.



"While some sectors such as aviation and gaming saw a slight decline, we are confident that buying activity at low prices will occur soon, based on the daily Covid-19 declining cases," he said, adding that traders are expected to see consumer, construction and real estate sectors.


Moreover, the technology sector is expected to record a rebound, tracking overnight gains on the Nasdaq.


Heavyweights Axiata remained lower, declining seven sen to RM3.78, while Public Bank and Maybank, declined two sen each to RM4.29 and RM8.43, respectively.


Sime Darby declined five sen to RM2.43 after rising on Tuesday.


Meanwhile, Press Metal rose six sen to RM10.06 and Nestle rose 90 sen to RM136.60.


Among active stocks, Pegasus was flat at three sen, while Borneo Oil, Compugates and Dynaciate, added half-a-sen to four sen, 3.5 sen and 15.5 sen, respectively.


On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 4.53 points to 11,897.14, the FBMT 100 declined 8.79 points to 11,575.46 and the FBM Emas Shariah rose 1.70 points to 13,181.67.


FBM 70 increased 9.35 points to 15,669.90 and FBM ACE declined 85.50 points to 10,661.55.


By sector, the Financial Services Index declined 18.95 points to 15,584.02, the Plantation Index rose 14.33 points to 7,244.60 and the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.48 points to 192.47.

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