KUALA LUMPUR (July 16): The FBM KLCI ended flat on Friday, as daily new Covid-19 cases in the country retreated from an all-time high the day before.

At 5pm, the benchmark index reversed the day’s losses to close slightly higher by 1.66 points or 0.11% to 1,522.48, led by gains at Genting Bhd and Digi.Com Bhd while glovemakers' shares fell.

For the week, the KLCI did not move much against last week’s closing at 1,520.58. 

Malaysia today recorded 12,541 new Covid-19 cases, from 13,215 on Thursday, while daily vaccination numbers reached another new high of 460,158 on July 15.

“Market volatility for this week has reduced much from a week ago, indicating that the sentiment is not as panicked as the previous week,” said HLIB Research analyst Ng Jun Sheng.

This week saw a technical rebound after several weeks of downtrend, Ng said, as investors also have more clarity such as through clearer Covid-19 data, as well as the confirmation of Parliament sitting dates. Investors could look at recovery stocks "on big dips", he added.

Across Bursa Malaysia, some 4.49 billion shares were traded at a value of RM2.94 billion. Leading the sectoral gains were the construction index as well as the telecommunications and media index.

Gainers were led by Nestle (M) Bhd (up 40 sen or 0.3% to RM133.40), Petronas Dagangan Bhd (up 36 sen or 1.93% to RM19.04) and B.I.G. Industries Bhd (up 30 sen or 40.54% to RM1.04).

Decliners were led by KESM Industries Bhd (down 38 sen to RM11.20), Genetec Technology Bhd (down 32 sen or 1.76% to RM17.88), and Chin Teck Plantations Bhd (down 26 sen to 1.96% to RM13.02).  

Dagang NeXchange Bhd (up 3.5 sen or 4.9% to 75 sen) was the most active counter of the day, followed by Pasukhas Group Bhd (down seven sen or 35.9% to 12.5 sen) and Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd (down half a sen or 1.1% to 45 sen).

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.98%, Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.71% the Hong Kong HSI rose 0.03% to close marginally higher.

Asian shares headed lower on Friday as profit-taking in Taiwanese chip giant TSMC, despite record profits, weighed on other tech firms and broader risk sentiment, while a more dovish US rates outlook kept bond yields near multi-month lows, Reuters reported.