BURSA Malaysia’s key index breached the resistance level of 1,580 at the close as investors regained confidence following the official start of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme on Wednesday.
At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) surged 23.99 points, or 1.54%, to 1,581.54 from 1,557.55 at Wednesday’s closing.
The key index opened 9.35 points firmer at 1,566.90 and hovered between 1,565.77 and 1,587.11 throughout the day.
Market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing losers 857 to 402, while 411 counters were unchanged, 528 untraded and 71 others suspended.
Total volume was lower at 10.44 billion units worth RM6.57 bil compared with 12.70 billion units worth RM7.01 bil on Wednesday.
Across the board, all sectors were in the green zone, except for the Healthcare Index which remained the sole loser as traders continued to offload their shares in rubber glove and pharmaceutical companies.
Commenting on today’s performance, Areca Capital Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Danny Wong Teck Meng said the vaccination programme which officially commenced yesterday had restored investors’ confidence.
“Investors have been excited over the vaccination programme, and they have shifted towards recovery play now,” he told Bernama.
According to Wong, the recent retreats of the local bourse involved healthy profit-taking for traders to accumulate value stocks.
He believed the local stock market would be trading sideways over the next one to two weeks, focusing mainly on recovery-themed stocks.
Of the 30 FBM KLCI counters, over two-thirds were in the positive territory.
Among them, Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd rose 71 sen to RM9.66, Malayan Banking Bhd advanced 20 sen to RM8.09, Public Bank Bhd picked up nine sen to RM4.17, Axiata Group Bhd was 27 sen better at RM3.57 and Tenaga Nasional Bhd bagged 22 sen to RM20.12.
Top gainers included Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd which surged RM2.94 to RM38.00, Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd which jumped 66 sen to RM23.96 and D&O Green Technologies Bhd which gained 66 sen to RM3.99.
The top losers list was led by Rapid Synergy Bhd which declined 36 sen to RM7.40, followed by Hartalega Holdings Bhd which lost 26 sen to RM10.14.
Pharmaniaga Bhd shed 24 sen to RM4.16 while Duopharma Biotech Bhd was nine sen easier at RM3.10.
Active counters included Permaju Industries Bhd which lifted 2.5 sen to 17.5 sen and Dagang NeXchange Bhd warrants which inched up three sen to 35 sen.
Metronic Global Bhd slipped two sen to 8.5 sen, while XOX Bhd and Key Alliance Group Bhd shed half-a- sen each to nine sen and five sen, respectively. – Feb 25, 2021
