BURSA Malaysia gathered steam in the afternoon session to end at its intraday high on bargain hunting in selected heavyweights and value stocks.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) advanced 7.86 points to close at its intraday high of 1,591.32 compared with Monday’s close of 1,583.46.
The market bellwether, which opened 0.21 of-a-point weaker at 1,583.25, fluctuated between 1,580.25 and 1,591.32.
Overall market breadth was also positive with gainers trouncing losers 812 to 279, while 390 counters were unchanged, 722 untraded, and five others suspended.
Total volume eased to 5.84 billion units worth RM3.15 bil from Monday’s 6.60 billion units worth RM3.80 bil.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said the overall market sentiment was lifted by reports that European countries such as the UK which has reopened its economy, gave its more than 65 million population a measure of freedom after a four-month lockdown to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.
He noted that with the acceleration in vaccination rates, France and Spain had also relaxed their pandemic-related restrictions, while Portugal and the Netherlands had eased travel restrictions.
“All in all, this helped to soothe investors’ nerves of a possible full-scale movement control order in Selangor given the high cases in the state,” Adam told Bernama.
On Tuesday, Malaysia recorded 4,865 new infection cases, of which Selangor remained the highest with 1,743 new cases.
Among Bursa Malaysia’s heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) advanced nine sen to RM8.39, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd climbed 17 sen to RM8.12, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) rose eight sen to RM9.99, IHH Healthcare Bhd gained three sen to RM5.35, Top Glove Corp Bhd was five sen higher at RM5.34, Public Bank Bhd slid seven sen to RM4.19, and Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd eased two sen to RM5.30.
Of the actives, Focus Dynamics Group Bhd added one sen to six sen, Dagang NeXchange Bhd jumped 11 sen to 77 sen, Velesto Energy Bhd edged up half-a-sen to 14.5 sen, MTouche Technology Bhd and Bumi Armada Bhd increased 3.5 sen each to 36 sen and 46 sen, respectively, while Sanichi Technology Bhd shed 15 sen to 20 sen, and UCrest Bhd inched down half-a-sen to 37 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 93.93 points higher at 11,605.15, the FBMT 100 Index expanded by 75.08 points to 11,280.36, and the FBM ACE increased 175.42 points to 7,817.6.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index put on 131.39 points to 12,929.37, and the FBM 70 surged 174.99 points to 14,975.14.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index rose 31.93 points to 15,011.73, the Plantation Index increased 13.91 points to 6,960.66, while the Industrial Products and Services Index gained 3.37 points to 196.02. – May 18, 2021
