Bursa bucks regional trend on economic recovery plan news

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia bucked the regional trend to close higher yesterday, thanks to buying support in index-linked counters and positive news on the government’s new economic recovery plan, dealers said.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 15.75 points to end the day at 1,473.25 from 1,457.5 at yesterday’s close. The index, which opened 6.96 points weaker at 1,450.54 this morning, hovered between 1,448.84 and 1,473.77 throughout the day.

The overall market breadth was positive with gainers trouncing losers 650 to 403, while 363 counters were unchanged, 484 untraded and 50 others suspended. Total volume ballooned to 9.04 billion shares worth RM9.31 billion from 6.94 billion units worth RM5.45 billion on Thursday.

A dealer said Bursa and major Asian bourses were on a downtrend earlier as hopes for global economic revival were dimmed by rising tensions between the US and China.

He said sentiment was weighed by reports on US President Donald Trump’s plan to hold a news conference on Friday to address the soaring tensions between the two countries over trade, the Covid-19 pandemic as well as China’s plan to implement national security law in Hong Kong.

Nevertheless, Bursa rebounded in the a ernoon session as risk appetite improved a er Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz announced today the government would soon announce a new economic recovery plan. He said all ministries had engaged with various stakeholders to enable the government to make relevant decisions for assisting various sectors.

The minister said some of the measures announced under the Prihatin stimulus package spanned a period of only three to six months and would therefore end soon.

“As such, the economic recovery plan to be announced will see some of the measures being extended as well as the introduction of several new initiatives to strengthen the economy,” Tengku Zafrul told reporters.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei Index eased 0.18 per cent to 21,877.89, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index contracted 0.74 per cent to 22,961.47 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index declined 0.18 per cent to 2,510.75.

Back home, among the heavyweights, Maybank rose nine sen to RM7.50, Petronas Chemicals gained 11 sen to RM6.30, while Hartalega climbed RM1.40 to RM12.54.

Tenaga lost 64 sen to RM11.26, Public Bank trimmed 52 sen to RM14.66, IHH slid three sen to RM5.43 and Maxis fell 11 sen to RM5.28. — Bernama