KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia breached 1,453 points at mid-afternoon, bucking the downtrend in most of its regional peers due to persistent buying in glove and energy stocks.
At 3.05 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KCLI (FBM KLCI) rose 18.16 points or 1.27% to 1,453.28 from 1,435.12 at Wednesday’s close.
The key index opened 2.78 points firmer at 1,437.49.
Market breadth was positive with gainers leading losers 577 to 366, while 371 counters were unchanged, 584 untraded and 30 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 5.11 billion worth RM3.08 bil.
Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.14% to 2,558.23, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index retreated 0.51% to 24,276.33 and Japan’s Nikkei Index shrank 0.21% to 20,552.31.
A dealer said demand in glove counters has been on the rise since health experts expressed scepticism over Covid-19 vaccine developments yesterday.
“Meanwhile, the strengthening crude oil prices, as global benchmark Brent Crude oil price is now hovering around US$36 per barrel from US$27 per barrel a week ago, also supported buying in oil and gas (O&G)-linked stocks,” he said.
Of the heavyweights, glove makers Top Glove surged RM1.02 to RM11.82 and Hartalega bagged 52 sen to RM9.94.
Petronas Gas, which is also the top gainer across the board, increased RM1.76 to RM16.94, Petronas Chemicals was 21 sen firmer at RM6.05 and Maybank accumulated 13 sen to RM7.62.
Most active counters continued to be dominated by O&G stocks. KNM and Hibiscus edged up one sen each to 22.5 sen and 60.5 sen, respectively, Bumi Armada was half-a-sen better at 24.5 sen while Velesto was unchanged at 17 sen.
Rubber glove stock Careplus advanced 4.5 sen to 99.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index jumped 140.52 points to 10,304.14, the FBMT 100 Index expanded 142.27 points to 10,148.18 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 193.88 points higher at 11,745.5.
The FBM ACE leapt 66.21 points to 5,527.24 and the FBM 70 soared 243.35 points to 12,881.55.
Sector-wise, the Healthcare Index jumped 116.34 points to 2,024.41 and the Energy Index increased 8.09 points to 829.59.
The Financial Services Index improved 130.63 points to 12,579.43, the Industrial Products and Services Index ticked up 1.96 points to 126.83 and the Plantation Index strengthened 142.29 points to 6,772.14. – May 21, 2020, Bernama
