The double whammy of political uncertainties after the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government and the Covid-19 threat saw Bursa Malaysia notching losses in early Wednesday trade. At 9.18am, the FBM KLCI had fallen 6.44 points or 0.43% to 1,494.44. Turnover was 475.03 million shares valued at RM229.56mil. There were 139 gainers, 325 losers and 209 counters unchanged. Reuters reported Asian shares fell as a US warning to Americans to prepare for the possibility of a coronavirus pandemic drove another Wall Street tumble and pushed yields on safe-haven Treasuries to record lows. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both shed more than 3% on Tuesday in their fourth straight session of losses. That led MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan down 0.6%. Australian shares were down 1.77%, while Japan’s Nikkei stock index slid 1.1%. At Bursa on Tuesday, foreign funds stepped up their selling pressure, offloading net RM202.80mil of equities but the selling was absorbed by local institutions and retail investors. Local funds turned net buyers at RM170.28mil and retail investors RM32.52mil. Nestle fell the most, down RM1.50 to RM140.50, Dutch Lady RM1.48 to RM43.02, F&N 88 sen to RM30.48, Heineken 36 sen to RN28.64, BAT 30 sen to RM14.34 and Carlsberg 28 sen to RM36.92. Genting Plantations lost 46 sen to RM9.68 with 100 shares done while KL Kepong was down 20 sen to RM22.04.
