KUALA LUMPUR (April 16): Bursa Malaysia was lower at mid-morning today amidst the mixed regional sentiment, as concerns over the resurgence in global Covid-19 cases affected investors’ risk appetites, dealers said.

Locally, the daily tally of new Covid-19 cases surged to 2,148 yesterday from 1,889 a day earlier. The last time the country recorded more than 2,000 daily cases was on March 5, with 2,154 cases.

At 11.01am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 3.46 points to 1,604.79 from Thursday’s close of 1,608.25.

Gains in Maxis Bhd and rubber glove stocks helped to cushion the downward slide.

Maxis rose seven sen to RM4.69, Supermax Corp Bhd advanced 20 sen to RM5.30 and Top Glove Corp Bhd gained six sen to RM5.50.

The Healthcare Index improved 13.59 points to 3,160.53.

On the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 524 versus 323, while 1,020 counters were unchanged, 312 untraded and 27 others suspended.

Total volume stood at 2.5 billion shares worth RM1.66 billion.

Of the heavyweights, Public Bank Bhd trimmed two sen to RM4.21, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd edged down three sen to RM7.88, Tenaga Nasional Bhd contracted four sen to RM10.08, and IHH Healthcare Bhd slipped one sen to RM5.34.

Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd, which soared by 68 sen to RM10.70 yesterday, went down 12 sen to RM10.58 due to profit-taking.

Among the actives, Rubberex Corp (M) Bhd rose 12 sen to RM1.49, Focus Dynamics Group Bhd shed two sen to 22 sen, Careplus Group Bhd bagged 17 sen to RM2.09, while Minda Global Bhd was flat at 16 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 19.01 points lower at 11,832.82, the FBM Emas Shariah slid 8.06 points to 13,243.39, the FBMT 100 declined 21.69 points to 11,487.15, the FBM 70 lost 17.89 points to 15,682.49, and the FBM ACE fell 56.08 points to 8,807.22.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.5 of-a-point to 195.91, the Plantation Index erased 30.77 points to 6,899.6, and the Financial Services Index declined 9.44 points to 15,100.64.