Bursa Malaysia rallies with 949 counters up on 1st day of MCO 2.0

KUALA LUMPUR: Investor interest on Bursa Malaysia continued to gain momentum, driving the share market broadly higher on the first day of the reinstatement of the Movement Control Order (MCO 2.0).

Overall, market sentiment improved as the proclamation of a nationwide state of emergency helped to remove uncertainty domestically, while oil prices continued to hover above US$56 per barrel level.

At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) surged 24.65 points to 1,636.69 compared with 1,612.04 at yesterday’s close.

The index opened 5.64 points higher at 1,617.68 and moved between 1,617.68 and 1,637.10.

On the broader market, gainers trounced losers 949 to 348, while 309 counters were unchanged, 493 untraded and 11 others suspended.

Total volume, however, slipped to 7.12 billion units worth RM5.11 billion from 8.41 billion units worth RM5.76 billion on Tuesday.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said investors shrugged off the concerns from the emergency order and MCO as the restrictions were also not as harsh as before.

“Also, a suspended parliament could mean that policymakers would be more focused on improving the economy rather than dealing with political differences,” he told Bernama.

Adam said the rally in banking stocks li ed the Bursa Malaysia Financial Services Index by 3.5 per cent and on the flip side, healthcare and rubber glove counters registered broad declines causing the Bursa Malaysia healthcare sector to drop slightly by 0.1 per cent.

He did not discount any possibility of short selling in rubber glove and healthcare counters given the current fluid environment.

In the oil market, the uptrend continues a er American Petroleum Institute reported a large draw in crude oil inventories of 5.821 million barrels for the week ending Jan 8 compared with 1.661 million barrels in the previous week.

Banking counters led the way among heavyweights, with Public Bank surging RM1.32 to RM21.40, Maybank gained 30 sen to RM8.30, CIMB increased 15 sen to RM4.07 and RHB Bank added 14 sen to RM5.47.

However, IHH dropped 10 sen to RM5.45, Top Glove edged down five sen to RM6.63, Hartalega lost 14 sen to RM13, and Supermax declined 19 sen to RM7.11.

Of the actives, Kanger International was 1.5 sen higher at 15 sen, Metronic up one to 11 sen while PNEPCB and Yong Tai added half-a-sen each to 63 sen and 30 sen respectively. — Bernama