Bursa slips in early trade as Covid-19 fears persist

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia tracked global sentiment lower as Wall Street wrapped up its worst first quarter on record.

The Dow Jones ended the first three months of the year 20% lower while the S&P500 and Nasdaq each fell 14% during the period.

Asian markets showed mixed results on Wednesday as the Covid-19 pandemic was expected to sharply slow the global economy, even as the number of cases surged above 800,000 worldwide.

Japan’s market opened in the red with the Nikkei losing 1.1%. Australia’s ASX200 however rebounded from an oversold position, rising 3.1%.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.35% in early trade.

At 9.05am, the FBM KLCI was down 12.39 points to 1,338.50. There were 227 declienrs, 63 gainers and 170 counters unchanged.

Leading decliners were Carlsberg down 32 sen to RM24.68, KESM falling 24 sen to RM6.21 and Public Bank shaving 24 sen to RM15.66.

F&N jumped 48 sen to RM31.50 after it received approval to continue operating despite with a reduced workforce and operating hours during the movement control period.

Other stocks on the rise included MPI up 19 sen to RM9.34 and QL Resources gaining 19 sen to RM7.59.

Top actively traded counters were Minetec up one sen to 13.5 sen, SAPURA ENERGY unchanged at eight sen and Velesto unchanged at 11.5 sen.

Source: TheStar