GLOVE maker counters continued to rally on Bursa Malaysia, lifting the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KCLI (FBM KLCI) to hover near the 1,400 level.
At the noon break, the index was up 18.54 points to 1,398.47 after opening 8.50 points higher at 1,383.22.
It moved between 1,379.10 and 1,398.87 in the morning session.
However, market breadth was negative with losers edging past gainers 459 to 401, while 335 counters were unchanged, 670 untraded and 17 others suspended.
Total turnover stood at 5.79 billion worth RM2.86 bil.
Bank Negara Malaysia said today the country’s economy saw a moderate growth of 0.7% in the first quarter of 2020 (1Q20) — the weakest growth rate since 3Q09 — due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the implementation of the Movement Control Order.
The central bank said it expects the country to recover in the third quarter after a deep contraction in the second quarter.
Overseas, investors are keeping an ear out for the speech by the United States Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell on the US economy and policy actions later today.
Meanwhile, among the heavyweight counters on the local bourse, Hartalega jumped RM1.09 to RM8.62 while Top Glove increased RM1.31 to RM9.30 amidst strong global demand for rubber gloves from the medical sector.
IOI added 18 sen to RM4.03 and CIMB rose eight sen to RM3.49.
Tenaga, however, continued its downtrend, losing 24 sen to RM12.10 while Maybank dropped two sen to RM7.42.
As for the actives, medical and healthcare equipment manufacturer K-One added 10.5 sen to 35.5 sen, HLT Global went up 26 sen to 64 sen, and BCM Alliance expanded seven sen to 27.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index improved 123.75 points to 9,851.78, the FBMT 100 Index gained 124.72 points to 9,696.79, the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 199.60 points to 11,082.46, the FBM ACE climbed 238.66 points to 5,439.52 and the FBM 70 strengthened 138.98 points to 12,029.32.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index bagged 35.79 points to 12,249.29, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.68 of a point to 121.23, while the Plantation Index went up 58.24 points to 6,274.82. — May 13, 2020, Bernama
