fbpx

Bursa slips after overnight fall on Wall St over Covid-19 fears

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia fell in early Wednesday trade as investors grew more anxious about the widening impact of the Covid-19 coronavirus despite rates cuts by Bank Negara and the US Federal Reserve.

At 9.17am, the FBM KLCI was down 2.71 points or 0.18% to 1,475.93. Turnover was 252.50 million shares valued at RM171.94mil. There were 97 gainers, 278 losers and 193 counters unchanged.

Asian shares wobbled and bonds held gains, as an emergency rate cut from the US Federal Reserve did little to soothe investor fears over the coronavirus’s widening fallout, Reuters reported.

The surprise 50 basis point cut came with commentary highlighting the limits of monetary policy, and Wall Street indexes fell sharply, gold surged and the dollar sank.

The yield on benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasuries, which falls when prices rise, hit a once unimaginable low of 0.9060%.

In Asia, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged 0.2% higher, after easing hopes drove gains on Tuesday. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index fell 1.2% and Japan’s Nikkei was either side of flat in choppy trade.

E-mini futures for the S&P 500 were volatile and last traded 0.8% firmer.

At Bursa on Tuesday, foreign funds were net sellers at RM270mil but the selling was absorbed by local institutions and retail investors. Local institutions were net buyers at RM208.1mil and retail investors at RM48.9mil.

In Wednesday trade, Nestle fell 70 sen to RM140, Carlsberg 44 sen to RM29.16 and Heineken 16 sen to RM24.

KL Kepong lost 22 sen to RM21.70 and IOI Corp nine sen to RM4.12.

Hong Leong Bank fell 18 sen to RM15.42, KESM 12 sen to RM8.50 and Dufu eight sen to RM4.13.

Petronas Dagangan rose 40 sen to RM22.40 with 100 shares done, Petronas Gas added 14 sen to RM16.38.

HLFG rose 10 sen to RM15.40, Master-Pack seven sen to RM1.68 and Adventa 5.5 sen to 70.5 sen.

Source: TheStar