Glove counters lead Bursa Malaysia rally
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia rallied on Thursday led by the healthcare sector, mainly glove counters, tracking recovery in the US and regional markets.
Most sectoral indices remained in positive territory, with the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increasing 11.15 points to 1,607.73 at the close.
The market bellwether opened 3.31 points higher at 1,599.89, and fluctuated between 1,609.10 and 1,598.19 throughout the session.
Overall market breadth was slightly positive with gainers outpacing losers 545 to 534, while 442 counters were unchanged, 665 untraded and six others suspended.
Total volume, however, decreased to 7.90 billion shares worth RM4.98 billion from 8.68 billion shares worth RM4.40 billion on Wednesday.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said the return of investors’ interest towards glove counters was due to the sudden surge in Covid-19 cases in many parts of the world.
“Malaysia is seeing an uptick in infections, which breached 2,000 cases on April 15, the level not seen since March 15.
“India recorded the world’s highest daily tally of 314,835 cases today as a second wave of the pandemic raised new fears about the ability of hard-pressed health services to cope,” he told Bernama.
In addition, Japanese government is considering a state of emergency for Tokyo and Osaka as new cases surge.
The domestic market also moved in sync with most regional bourses, despite worries over the resurgence in Covid-19 infections globally.
On Wednesday, the United States’ stock markets rebounded as investors’ a ention shi ed to the progress in economic recovery amidst a flurry of corporate earnings releases.
The Dow rose 0.93 per cent to 34,137.31, Nasdaq improved 1.19 per cent to end at 13,950.22 and the S&P 500 increased 0.93 per cent to close at 4,173.42.
Top Glove led heavyweights most of the day, increasing by 17 sen to RM5.62, while Hartalega improved 42 sen to RM10.54, Supermax was 23 sen higher at RM5.77, and IHH added 15 sen to RM5.50, due to optimism over continued demand amid the rise in Covid-19 cases.
Petronas Chemicals gained 12 sen to RM7.91 and HLFG was 22 sen stronger at RM17.
Among the active counters, Ucrest dropped seven sen to 41.5 sen, Key Asic lost 1.5 sen to 19.5 sen, Focus Dynamics and Green Ocean were flat at 11.5 sen and 4.5 sen respectively, while Rubberex improved two sen to RM1.42.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index recovered 79.74 points to 11,834.86, the FBMT 100 added 81.93 points to 11,492.70, and the FBM 70 surged 119.91 points to 15,630.36.