KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): The FBM KLCI ended down 5.3 points or 0.34% at 1,573.33 today on afternoon selling in an apparent response to Malaysia’s latest industrial output index (IPI) data, which saw the full-year 2020 reading declining 4.2% from a year earlier to register the first drop since 2009.  

Bursa Malaysia’s Health Care index fell the most in percentage terms among exchange gauges while the Energy index was the top gainer as crude oil prices topped US$60 a barrel.

At 5pm today, the KLCI closed lower after rising to its intraday high at 1,586.06 in the morning. Apart from selling in shares of KLCI-linked rubber glove manufacturers Top Glove Corp Bhd, Hartalega Holdings Bhd and Supermax Corp Bhd, investors were also seen selling shares in other KLCI constituents including Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) and Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd (HLFG).

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd research head Kenny Yee Shen Pin told theedgemarkets.com that "investors continued to offload their shareholdings, especially in the rubber glove counters".

According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia’s statement, which was published at 12 noon today, Malaysia's IPI grew 1.7% in December 2020 from a year earlier but for the full year, the nation's 2020 IPI declined 4.2% from 2019.

"The IPI for the fourth quarter of 2020 fell 0.3% compared with the same period of the previous year,” the department said.

The IPI numbers are closely watched for clues on how Malaysia’s economy, as measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), had performed in 2020.

Bank Negara Malaysia is scheduled to announced this Thursday (Feb 11) the country’s 2020 fourth quarter and full-year GDP numbers.

The KLCI’s 0.34% drop trailed the 2.28% drop in the Health Care index, which tracks share prices of companies including glove manufacturers and pharmaceutical firms.

The Energy index closed up 3.15% after crude oil prices topped US$60 a barrel. It was reported that oil prices rose on Monday (Feb 8) to their highest in just over a year, with Brent futures nudging past US$60 a barrel, boosted by supply cuts among key producers and hopes for further US economic stimulus measures to boost demand.

"Brent crude for April touched an intraday high of US$60.06 a barrel, the highest since January last year. The front-month contract was at US$59.90 by 0728 GMT, up 56 cents, or 0.9%. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures for March advanced 60 cents, or 1.1%, to US$57.45 a barrel, the highest since January last year,” Reuters reported.

Across Bursa today, the bourse saw 7.04 billion securities worth RM4.5 billion traded.

There were 569 gainers versus 620 decliners.

Among decliners, HLFG’s share price closed down 34 sen or 1.99% at RM17.10, Top Glove fell 34 sen or 5.14% to RM6.27 while TNB dropped three sen or 0.31% to RM9.67.

The most-active stock was Dagang NeXchange Bhd (DNeX) after its share trade volume jumped to close at a record high of about 668 million units. DNeX’s share price rose nine sen or 32.14% to 37 sen after the company said in a Bursa filing today that Khazanah Nasional Bhd had on Friday (5 February 2021) informed DNeX and its strategic partner that Khazanah had accepted their bid for the proposed purchase of the entire issued share capital of SilTerra Malaysia Sdn Bhd from Khazanah, subject to the signing of a definitive agreement.

"Acceptance of the bid is still subject to strict confidentiality with Khazanah and no further details of the bid can be publicly disclosed until the signing of the definitive agreement,” DNeX said.