MALAYSIA
Bursa Malaysia ended the year 2020 broadly lower in line with most regional markets, with the key index shedding 1.05 per cent weighed down by selling in heavyweights led by Sime Daby Plantation and IHH Healthcare.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 17.20 points to finish at 1,627.21, its intraday low, after hitting a high of 1,644.26 earlier.
The index opened 0.15 of-a-point easier at 1,644.26, compared to Wednesday’s close of 1,644.41.
Bursa Malaysia will be closed tomorrow for the New Year.
The overall market breadth was negative with losers outpacing gainers 620 to 474, while 501 counters were unchanged, 526 untraded and 56 others suspended.
Total volume decreased to 5.51 billion units worth RM3.11 billion from Wednesday’s 7.82 billion units worth RM3.65 billion.
Sime Darby Plantation slipped 18 sen to RM4.99, IHH Healthcare lost 21 sen to RM5.50, Press Metal declined 11 sen to RM8.39, and Petronas Chemicals slid seven sen to RM7.43.
Of the other heavyweights, Top Glove was flat at RM6.12, Maybank dipped 11 sen to RM8.46, Public Bank and TNB went down 10 sen each to RM20.60 and RM10.42, respectively, while CIMB decreased eight sen to RM4.30 and Hartalega was six sen easier at RM12.14.
Among the actives, Technodex rose two sen to 31.5 sen, Marine & General inched up half-a-sen to 18.5 sen, while AT Systematization, Iris Corp, MLabs Systems, Borneo Oil and XOX were all flat at 18.5 sen, 43.5 sen, eight sen, four sen, and 11 sen respectively.
Solid Automotive eased 1.5 sen to 23 sen.
On the index board, the FBM 70 shrank 105.92 points to 15,142.84, the FBM Emas Index fell 107.25 points to 11,761.93, the FBMT 100 Index declined 111.18 points to 11,501.99, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index slid 116 points to 13,159.15.
The Industrial Products and Services Index went down 0.81 of-a-point to 178.11, the Plantation Index decreased 109.97 points to 7,302.84 and the Financial Services Index slipped 160.04 points to 15,316.55.
THAILAND
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) Index closed at 1,449.35 on Wednesday, down 12.60 points or down by 0.86 per cent. Transactions, meanwhile, totalled at Bt87.54 billion with an index high of 1,479.04 and a low of 1,445.36.
The index this year fell 144.53 points or by 7.32 per cent compared to 1563.88 last year.
Paiboon Narintarangkul, chairman of the Federation of Thai Capital Market Organisations, said SET dropped because the Covid-19 outbreak hit Thailand’s tourism industry badly, resulting in investors selling off Thai shares to reduce their investment risks.
“However, the drop was slight compared to other indices in the region,” he said.
The top 10 stocks with the highest trade value today were DELTA, GPSC, STGT, PTT, AEONTS, STARK, BANPU, IVL, TRUE and KBANK.
As of 4.30pm, the price of oil rose by US$0.32 or 0.67 per cent to $48.32 per barrel, while gold rose by $0.30 or 0.02 per cent, to $1,883.20 per ounce.
Other Asian indices were mixed:
Japan’s Nikkei Index closed at 27,444.17, down 123.98 or 0.45 per cent.
China’s Shanghai SE Composite Index closed at 3,414.45, up 35.42 points or 1.05 per cent, while Shenzhen SE Component Index closed at 14,201.56, up 231.35 points or 1.66 per cent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed at 27,147.11, up 578.62 points or 2.18 per cent.
South Korea’s KOSPI Index closed at 2,873.47, up 52.96 points or 1.88 per cent.
Taiwan’s TAIEX Index closed at 14,687.70, up 215.65 points or 1.49 per cent.
SINGAPORE
The pandemic hammered South-east Asian stock markets in 2020 with the Straits Times Index taking the biggest hit in the region.
The local bourse ended the year down nearly 12 per cent, a victim, like its regional peers, to a greater reliance on trade, travel and tourism – sectors that have all been under siege as countries went into lockdown.
PHILIPPINES
The PSE index (PSEi) closed at 7,139.71 up by 17.46 points or 0.3 percent on the last trading day of 2020. The PSEi climbed 54.4 percent from its lowest closing level in 2020 of 4,623.42 on March 19. However, the main index is still down by 8.6 percent year-on-year.
“This year is truly unprecedented for the stock market with the circuit breaker triggered three times and with the PSEi recording its steepest intraday drop in PSE history. The main index may have failed to return to pre-pandemic levels but it’s good to see that it managed to stay above the 7,100 level,” said PSE President and CEO Ramon S. Monzon.
The All Shares index also finished lower year-on-year, down by 8.1 percent. Among the sector indices, only Mining and Oil closed in the green, up by 17.8 percent. The Financials sector, on the other hand, was down the most as it shed 22.3 percent year-on-year.
Daily average value turnover slightly improved to Php7.35 billion from the Php7.29 billion average in 2019. Foreign funds were net sellers by Php128.65 billion from Php14.26 billion last year.
To mark the last trading day of the year, PSE held a closing bell ringing ceremony.
“It is tempting to write off 2020 but we cannot disregard the achievements accomplished this year. We had the listing of the first Real Estate Investment Trust after more than a decade-long wait. Even with the pandemic, we had a decent capital raising pipeline, including the listing of the biggest IPO ever in the history of PSE. Our trading system was up 100 percent during the enhanced community quarantine period when we had to close the trading floor,” Mr. Monzon said in his message during the event.
“As we end the year, let us continue to inspire each other to remain steadfast and to persevere despite the challenges and to do more for the development of the capital market in the coming year,” Mr. Monzon added.