Traders may focus on the healthcare sector due to the rising daily Covid-19 cases and there might be some trading interest within the poultry-related stocks as the government set a higher ceiling price for chicken, Malacca Securities said in a note.
Meanwhile, it said that the new ceiling price for the chicken to be set at RM9.40 per kg may be mildly positive for the poultry players, albeit the capping price is RM0.50 higher than the previous level.
Commodities-wise, the stockbroking firm said that the crude oil price dropped to USD116 per barrel mark, while the gold price extended its decline amid a firmer US Dollar.
On the local bourse, it said that The FBM KLCI (-0.2%) retreated on quick profit-taking activities with more than half of the key index components ending in the red yesterday.
It said that both the lower liners and broader market, however, turned mixed with the latter saw the healthcare sector (+2.6%) outperformed amid rising Covid cases across the globe.
On the global markets, Wall Street ended mixed as the Dow (+0.3%) rose, but the S&P 500 (-0.1%) and Nasdaq (-0.03%) edged mildly lower after US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell announced that the US economy is well position to withstand tighter monetary policy. Both the European and Asia stock markets closed in the red.
