Bursa Malaysia ends firmer for second consecutive day

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia bucked the regional trend to close higher for the second consecutive day yesterday, on persistent buying support in index-linked counters led by Petronas Chemicals and IHH Healthcare.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 16.13 points or 1.18 per cent to 1,387.79 from 1,371.66 at Tuesday’s close.

The key index, which opened 3.96 points firmer at 1,375.62 this morning, fluctuated between 1,375.12 and 1,394.66 throughout the day.

Petronas Chemicals advanced 25 sen to RM5.42 with 6.31 million shares changing hands while IHH Healthcare earned 14 sen to RM5.23 with 3.55 million shares transacted. Both stocks contributed a combined 5.88 points to the rise in the composite index.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd head of research Kenny Yee said Bursa Malaysia is in the recovery phase with investors’ optimism over the country’s gradually improving economy following the government’s decision to allow several sub-sectors to resume operations.

Speaking to Bernama, he also said the fla ening curve of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia has also partly aided the be er sentiment in the market, which was boosted by the be er-thanexpected trade data from China released Tuesday.

Universiti Malaya public health specialist Dr Rafdzah Ahmad Zaki reportedly said Malaysia’s efforts to fla en the curve of Covid-19 cases might see results in the middle of May and the number of new cases would likely drop at the end of April.

Meanwhile, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economy) Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed had reportedly said that Malaysia welcomed the decision by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries members and allies (OPEC+) to cut production by nearly 10 million barrels per day (bpd). The decision was made to stabilise the global oil market and ensure supply security for consumers.

He said despite being a small producer and net importer of oil, Malaysia has agreed to slash its crude oil production by 136,000 bpd for May and June.

On the scoreboard, gainers led losers 544 to 352, while 370 counters were unchanged, 638 untraded and 19 others suspended. Turnover increased to 5.54 billion shares worth RM2.73 billion from 4.79 billion shares worth RM2.08 billion registered on Tuesday.

Among heavyweights, Maybank and Maxis rose six sen each to RM7.64 and RM5.30 respectively, Tenaga bagged 10 sen to RM12.24, while Public Bank was flat at RM15.84. — Bernama