KUALA LUMPUR (March 8): Technology-related stocks on Bursa Malaysia continued to fall on profit taking today, as the selldown on US technology stocks weighed on sentiment and investors shifted interest to other recovery plays.
Bursa Malaysia’s technology index fell 6.09% to 79.81, with Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd, ViTrox Corp Bhd and UWC Bhd topping the list of losers.
MPI was the top loser, plunging RM4.52 or 11.47% to RM34.88, followed by ViTrox’s RM1.22 or 7.71% drop to RM14.60, and UWC sinking 68 sen or 11.7% to RM5.13.
Meanwhile, KESM Industries Bhd slid 62 sen or 4.59% to RM12.88, Unisem (M) Bhd lost 59 sen or 7.29% to RM7.50, Penta Master Corp Bhd tumbled 47 sen or 8.22% to RM5.25, and D&O Green Technologies Bhd slipped 41 sen or 10.57% to RM3.47.
THE election of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States has brought cheer to the renewable energy (RE) industry in the country. He has pledged to combat climate change under a US$2 trillion plan while creating millions of jobs at home in the green sector.
On Jan 27, the White House announced that Biden will ensure that the federal government leverages its buying power to procure carbon-pollution-free electricity, made in the US, to stimulate clean energy industries.
Once in office, he also cancelled the construction of the Keystone XL gas pipeline.
As a result, investors piled into RE stocks, including solar energy stocks. The Invesco Solar Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), which tracks an index of solar energy stocks, had returned 237.93% over the one-year period ended Jan 31.
A corporate exercise quietly announced a week ago seems to have gotten the notice of some investors.
Pimpinan Ehsan Bhd (PEB), a company that was controlled by tycoon Tan Sri Rozali Ismail, a cash shell looking for an acquisition target, made two stock exchange filings on Feb 19.
One, that Rozali and other shareholders had sold out of the company to new parties, thereby triggering a mandatory general offer (MGO) and two, that PEB was planning to acquire solar power assets.
Since the announcement, PEB shares have almost doubled in a matter of a week.
So why the excitement?
It is likely to do with the fact that PEB is morphing into a pure play renewable energy company, a move which sits well with the global push towards environmental goals. Another reason could be the presence of seasoned corporate personality Lim Beng Guan as the new major shareholder of PEB.
At 9.08am, the FBM KLCI dipped 0.11 points to 1,581.43.
The early decliners inluded Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd, Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd, KESM Industries Bhd, Euro Holdings Bhd, Unisem (M) Bhd, Ajinomoto (M) Bhd, Pentamaster Corp Bhd, Sarawak Oil Palms Bhd and UWC Bhd.
Bloomberg said global bonds continued to sell off and Asian stocks retreated after a bruising session for US shares and Treasuries.
The dollar strengthened, it said.
Rakuten Trade said fears over higher rates returned to haunt traders as the US 10-year Treasury yield topped 1.6% prompting a sell-off on Wall Street.
The research house said the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 560 points to close at 31,400 mark while the Nasdaq bore the brunt of the selling declined over 3% to just above the 13,100 level.
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 26): The main index at Bursa Malaysia pared some of its loss at the midday break Friday, against the backdrop of skidding regional markets, while technology-related stocks on Bursa Malaysia came under selling pressure.
The fate of technology stocks mirrored the overnight performance at Wall Street where tech darlings all suffered, with Apple Inc, Tesla Inc, Amazon.com Inc, NVIDIA Corp and Microsoft Corp the biggest drags.
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was down 3.78 points to 1,577.76. The index had earlier slipped to a low of 1,577.53.
Market breadth was negative with 617 losers and 202 gainers, while 716 counters traded unchanged. Trading volume was 6.04 billion shares valued at RM3.29 billion.