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KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia rebounded on Thursday with FBM KLCI closing at the day’s high, backed by Public Bank, Petronas Chemicals and Axiata, tracking key Asian markets as pessimism about the Covid-19 pandemic cleared.
At 5 p.m., the FBM KLCI was up 29.54 points or 1.85% at 1,628.26. The turnover was 12.37 billion shares valued at RM6.17bil. Counters that advance beat those that advance nine to four or 907 winners to 401 losers and 410 unchanged counters.
Analysts said progress on Covid-19 vaccines could have removed some of the sadness over the pandemic that saw stock markets posting strong gains. The worst could have happened, they said.
Bursa’s rally also reflected the strength of key Asian markets. The Nikkei 225 Index ended a modest 0.03% at 26,809.37, but closed near its highest level since April 1991. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.74% to 26,728.50.
South Korea’s Kospi closed up 0.76% to a record high of 2,696, according to Reuters.
The move by analysts to improve banks, the indicator of an economic recovery, prompted investors to flock to Public Bank and Hong Leong.
Public Bank, which was the biggest driver among KLCI shares, rose 66 sen to RM18.60 and added 4.01 points to the 30-share index, RHB Bank 31 sen higher to RM5.65 while Hong Leong Bank gained 18 sen to RM18. 30 and CIMB five sen at RM3.84. Maybank rose three sen to RM8.30.
As for telcos, Axiata added 14 sen to RM3.84 and pushed the index up two points. Maxis closed 12 sen at RM5.04 and added 1.47 points while Digi 12 sen at RM4.20 and added 1.46 points. Telekom rose 34 sen to RM5.37.
Brent crude rose 21 cents, or 0.4%, to $ 48.46 a barrel, after gaining 1.8% on Wednesday.
Light US crude rose 11 cents, or 0.2%, to $ 45.39 a barrel, after closing 1.6% higher in the previous session.
Petronas Chemicals gained 29 sen at RM7.32 and 3.63 points and Petronas Dagangan 30 sen at RM21.50 while Petronas Gas lost 20 sen at RM17.60.
Energy giant Tenaga Nasional was up 20 sen to RM11 and added 1.78 points, but IHH Healthcare lost 10 sen to RM5.50.
Among the glove manufacturers, Hartalega
it added 30 sen to RM14.66 and pushed the KLCI up 1.61 points. Top Glove, which had recently been under pressure from Covid-19 infections among its workers, gained 10 sen to RM6.78 and added 1.28 points.
Among consumer stocks, Carlsberg added 84 sen to RM20.64, BAT 62 sen to RM12.66, and Nestle 50 sen to RM137.50 but Apollo lost 13 sen to RM4.25.
UWC’s strong technology-related gains sent its share price up 36 sen to RM8.30, but Greatec fell 11 sen to RM8.57 on profit-taking.
Yong Tai rose 12.5 sen to 29.5 sen and was the most active with more than 800 million shares taken.
Bintai kinden hit the limit, gaining 29.5 sen at RM1.14. Its partner Generex Biotechnology Corporation signed a US $ 50,000 license and development agreement in November for its Ii-Key vaccine platform technology.
The agreement, which was signed with its partners in China, was for technology provided by Generex’s subsidiary, NuGenerex Immuno-Oncology Inc.
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