BURSA Malaysia was down at early trade today with all major indices in the red, in what appears to be a  knee-jerk reaction to the uncertainty surrounding the reign of Muhyiddin Yassin’s Perikatan Nasional government.

At 9.39am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell b 12.22 points to 1517.93 from yesterday’s close of 1,530.15.

The index opened 4.25 points lower at 1,525.90 at the opening bell.

At 9.44am, the FBM Emas Index was down 82.60 points at 11,083.52 while the FBMT 100 Index dropped 80.80 points to 10,786.70.  The FBM Emas Shariah Index dipped 91.89 points to 12,121.83.

The FBM ACE index fell 129.48 points to 7,311.36 while the FBM 70 declined 114.44 points to 14,393.65.

Kumpulan H&L High-Tech Bhd, Widetech (Malaysia) Bhd and Y&G Corp Bhd were the top gaining counters at early trade.

Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd, Genetec Technology Bhd,, and Petronas Dagangan Bhd were the top three losers.

Energy firm Serba Dinamik Bhd was the most actively traded counter this morning followed by Advance SynergyBhd and Pelangi Publishing Group Bhd.

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announced early this morning that the party, which provides key numbers for the PN coalition in parliament, has withdrawn support for Muhyiddin with immediate effect.

The decision comes hours after the Prime Minister’s Office announced the appointment of Umno vice-president Ismail Sabri Yaakob to deputy prime minister. Another Umno member, Hishammuddin Hussein was promoted from foreign affairs minister to senior minister (security cluster), the post vacated by Ismail.

Zahid said a new prime minister should be appointed to oversee the Covid-19 pandemic response and ensure herd immunity is achieved through vaccination.

Meanwhile, the ringgit opened weaker against the greenback today.

At 9am, the ringgit was down 95 basis points at 4.1700/1750 against the US dollar from the previous day’s close of 4.1605/1625. – July 8, 2021.