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KUALA LUMPUR: Selling pressure accelerated on blue chips, including IHH Healthcare, Maybank and Sime Darby Plantation
Thursday night, the last trading day of the Covid-19 assembled in 2020, and pushed the FBM KLCI key into the red.
At 5 p.m., the KLCI was down 17.20 points or 1.05% to 1,627.21 and up. This was the lowest since December 22.
However, so far this year, the 30-share index is up 2.42%. Its intra-annual low was 1,219.72 on March 19 after the government imposed the Movement Control Order to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus.
In Thursday’s trade, Maybank fell 11 sen to RM8.46 and erased 1.88 points from the KLCI. Hong Leong Bank fell 36 sen to RM18.20 and eliminated 1.18 points.
Public Bank, which rebounded after its historic four-for-one bond issue, ended the day down 10 sen to RM20.60 and erased 0.59 of a point. CIMB lost eight sen to RM4.30 while RHB Bank lost five sen to RM5.45.
Among KLCI’s other stocks, IHH Healthcare fell 21 sen to RM5.50 and erased 2.80 points from the index. Tenaga Nasional lost 10 sen to RM10.42 while MISC fell five sen to RM6.87. Sime Darby lost four sen to RM2.31.
The plantations did not do well. An indictment of forced labor by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) piled up pressure on Sime Plantation. It fell 18 sen to RM4.99 and eliminated 1.88 points.
KL Kepong lost 52 sen to RM23.68, PPB Group 34 sen to RM18.52 and IOI Corp three sen to RM4.37.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery lost RM3 to RM3,585 per tonne, easing slightly from its rebound.
As for glove makers, the top winners for the year due to abnormal profits following increased demand, profit-taking continued Thursday as launch of the vaccine began.
Hartalega fell six sen to RM12.14, Top Glove remained flat at RM6.12 while Supermax managed to rally to close three sen higher at RM6.01.
US light crude fell 21 cents to $ 48.19 and Brent fell 23 cents to $ 51.40. Petronas Gas lost 16 sen to RM17.18, Petronas Chemicals seven sen to RM7.43 and Petronas Dagangan unchanged at RM21.40.
As for telcos, Maxis closed seven sen lower at RM5.05, Digi one sen at RM4.14, Axiata held steady at RM3.74 while Telekom fell two sen at RM5.41.
Nestlé was the main loser, falling 60 sen to RM138.90, F&N 60 sen to RM32.08 and Ducth Lady 38 sen to RM37.50.
Chipmaker MPI was the biggest gainer, climbing RM1.08 to RM25.96, while Unisem added 18 sen to RM6.18.
Toyo Ventures rose 39 sen to RM1.69 and its warrants 30 sen to 79.5 sen.
The ringgit was up 0.45% against the US dollar at 4.0183.
Among the key Asian markets. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.31%; China’s Shanghai composite 1.72% and Taiwan’s TAIEX advanced 0.31%, but Singapore’s STI fell 0.89%. Japan and South Korea were closed.
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