BURSA Malaysia extended its winning streak for the fifth consecutive day, with the key index rallying to its three-month high today, thanks to the strong buying momentum in banking-related stocks amid positive sentiment over COVID-19 vaccine, dealers said.
At the close, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 50.75 points or 3.33% to end at its intra-day high of 1,575.07 compared with yesterday’s close of 1,524.32.
May 18 — Bursa Malaysia remained in the positive territory at mid-afternoon, buoyed by feel-good factors such as higher crude oil prices and the re-opening of businesses throughout the globe.
At 3.05pm, benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) advanced 10.22 points, or 0.73 per cent to 1,413.66 from 1,403.44 at last Friday’s close.
The index opened 5.95 points firmer at 1,409.39.
Market breadth stayed positive, with gainers edged losers 585 to 335, while 351 counters were unchanged, 604 untraded and 17 others suspended.
A dealer said crude oil prices which surged over $30 per barrel for the first time since March this year, along with the re-opening of businesses across the world had restored investors’ confidence.
As at 3.39 pm, the benchmark Brent crude climbed 3.94 per cent higher at US$33.78 per barrel.
Of the heavyweights, IOI Corp advanced 15 Sen to RM4.14, Petronas Chemicals rose 11 Sen to RM5.67, Digi bagged 10 Sen to RM4.49, Maybank was six Sen better at RM7.46 and Petronas Dagangan increased 48 Sen to RM20.16.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said banking counters rose as the blanket moratorium was not extended under Budget 2021, which bodes well for banks’ earnings.
“With hopes of the vaccine (for COVID-19) remaining high, economic recovery will lead to less non-performing loans and impairments for banks,” he told Bernama.
Among banking heavyweights, Public Bank put on RM1.90 to RM17.20, Maybank surged 54 Sen to RM7.66, Hong Leong Bank increased RM1.48 to RM16.18, CIMB advanced 32 Sen to RM3.38, and RHB Bank bagged 47 Sen to RM4.85.
The uptrend on Bursa was also in line with regional peers’ performance, buoyed by the bullish sentiment stemming from positive data from a large-scale COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial, with a rate of 90 per cent effectiveness, developed by American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc and its partner, BioNTech SE.
On this positive development, Adam said counters related to tourism such as Malaysia Airports, AirAsia Group and AirAsia X were all up by at least 20% as the news of the vaccine gave hope of a revival of the tourism sector.
Of the actives, AT Systematization shed 2.5 Sen to 19 Sen, AirAsia X earned 2.5 Sen to 6.5 Sen, Kanger inched down half-a-Sen to 18.5 Sen, while Sapura Energy added half-a-Sen to 11 Sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 270.84 points firmer at 11,311.03, the FBMT 100 Index advanced 279.85 points to 11,112.59, and the FBM 70 increased 60.05 points to 14,549.09.
However, the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 40.15 points to 13,292.76 and the FBM ACE dropped 328.81 points to 11,046.36.
The Industrial Products and Services Index added 3.06 points to 154.31 and the Plantation Index improved 58.86 points to 7,207.59. – Nov 10, 2020
Sector-wise, the Energy Index was 87.32 points firmer at 843.68 and the Financial Services Index increased 66.91 points to 12,334.12.
The Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 1.42 points to 122.30 and the Plantation Index expanded 100.61 points to 6,297.77.
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