Bursa, Asian markets retreat on Apple’s Covid-19 warning

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia and key Asian markets slipped early Tuesday after the world’s most valuable company issued a caution that it would not meet its revenue guidance due to the impact from the Covid-19 coronavirus.

At 9.13am, the FBM KLCI had slipped 3.13 points or 0.2% to 1,533.99. There were 106 gainers, 204 losers and 216 counters unchanged. There were 330.94 million shares done valued at RM121.17mil.

US stock futures slipped from record levels after Apple Inc said it will not meet its revenue guidance for the March quarter as the coronavirus outbreak slowed production and weakened demand in China, Reuters reported.

The warning sobered investor optimism that economic stimulus by Beijing and other countries would protect the global economy from the effects of the epidemic.

S&P500 e-mini futures dipped as much as 0.2% in early Asian trade. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.20% while Japan’s Nikkei slid 0.59%.

At Bursa, foreign funds were net sellers on Monday at RM102.7mil but the selling was well absorbed by local institutions at RM70.9mil and retail investors RM31.8mil.

Icon Offshore stumbled 5.5 sen to 12 sen while its warrants surged 4.5 sen to 5.5 sen in active trade.

Globetronics lost 12 sen to RM2.33 and Unisem seven sen to RM2.17.

Malayan Cement fell 11 sen to RM3.50, SCIB also 11 sen lower at RM3.06 and UWC seven sen to RM3.

Ajinomoto rose 16 sen to RM14.50 and BAT 14 sen to RM12.14 while Dutch Lady added 10 sen to RM42.60.

Allianz was the top gainer, up 36 sen to RM15.36.

KL Kepong fell 54 sen to RM23.20 after it posted lower earnings in its first quarter.

Consumer stocks were mixed as Nestle fell 70 sen to RM144.30 with 100 shares done, F&N 24 sen down to RM33 while Carlsberg lost 10 sen to RM36.10.

Source: TheStar