Bursa Malaysia reacts negatively to hung parliament, 'sin' stocks beaten down

KUALA LUMPUR: The domestic market sank in Monday morning trade following the results of the 15th General Election that resulted in a hung parliament.

At 9.05am, the FBM KLCI was down 14.29 points to 1,435.03. The overall market was negative with 426 decliners compared with just 45 gainers

Trading volume was 336.18 million shares valued at RM170.39mil.

According to Malacca Securities Research, the hung parliament was likely to contribute to a "knee-jerk selldown", but the market may stabilise after a Prime Minister candidate is submitted to the Palace by the 2pm deadline.

"Given the range of the FBM KLCI after the change of government from PH to PN during Feb-2020 to Oct-2022 was around 1200-1700, we expect the knee jerk selling pressure may build up for this week, heading towards the 1,300-1,350 zone," it added.

It added however there could be side-effects depending on the party make-up of the winning coalition.

"PN coalition – the market may avoid sin sectors, while focusing on shariah related.

"PH government – the market could focus on construction, telco and renewable energy, but may not be corporation-friendly," said the research firm.

On the FBM KLCI, there were losses across sectors with notable declines in Press Metal down 16 sen to RM4.59 and PETRONAS Chemicals shedding seven sen to RM8.55.

Telcos were also under heavy selling pressure led by Maxis sliding 12 sen to RM3.71, Axiata falling seven sen to RM2.78 and Digi dropping eight sen to RM3.75.

Stocks under the "sin sector" category were among the biggest losers on the broader market. Heineken shed RM1.24 to RM23.50, Carlsberg slid RM1.10 to RM22.10 while Genting lost 34 sen to RM4.14 and Genting Malaysia was down 19 sen to RM2.52.

The top actively traded stocks included Advance Synergy slipping one sen to 11.5 sen, DNeX rising 4.5 sen to 55 sen and Eden gaining five sen to 22 sen.