KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia got off to a weak start on Friday, giving up all the previous day’s gains, as investors worried about the political outlook for the country and the surge in Covid-19 infections.

       At 9.15am, the FBM KLCI was down 7.49 points or 0.49% to 1,513.33. Turnover was 460.62 million shares valued at RM298.50mil. There were 153 gainers, 287 losers and 281 counters unchanged.

       News reports said oil prices fell a third day on Friday as supply concerns continued to haunt the market, with Opec likely to add more barrels amid expectations that demand is returning as more countries recover from the pandemic.

       Brent crude was down 20 cents, or 0.3%, at US$73.27 a barrel by 0018 GMT and is heading for a 3% decline this week after two days of heavy declines.

       US crude fell 12 cents, 0.2%, to US$71.53 a barrel, and is on track for a decline of about 4% this week.

       Bloomberg reported Asian stocks were mixed and U.S. equity futures fell early Friday after concerns about the economic growth outlook came to the fore.

       Japanese and Australian shares fluctuated while South Korea retreated. U.S. contracts slipped after energy and technology sectors led Wall Street lower, including a decline in growth favorites like Amazon.com Inc. Moderna Inc. rallied in extended trading on an announcement that the vaccine maker is set to join the S&P 500.

       At Bursa, Rapid Synergy fell the most, down 41 sen to RM7.76, HLFG 16 sen to RM17.70, JadeM 10.5 sen to 76.5 sen, HLBank and KL Kepong 10 sen each to RM18.26 and RM19.60.

       Hartalega gave up part of the previous day’s gains, down 11 sen to RM7.53 and Pharmaniaga 10.5 sen to 93.5 sen.

       MPI fell 38 sen to RM42 and KESM 36 sen to RM11.22.

       Berjaya Corp rose 0.5 sen to 28 sen in active trade. Chief executive officer Abdul Jalil Abdul Rasheed disclosed that the group is mulling to privatise its subsidiary Berjaya Land Bhd (BLand), selling Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd (BToto) and exiting its hotel businesses from several markets.

       Heineken was the top gainer, up 34 sen to RM22.34, Cepco 21.5 sen to RM1.06, Genetec 16 sen to RM18.36, BIG 14 sen to 88 sen and PetDag eight sen to RM18.76.