KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 12 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session lower as the market sentiment was dampened by the spike in Covid-19 cases in the country.

At 12.30pm, the market benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) retreated 11.79 points — or 0.77 per cent — to 1,518.56 from last Friday’s close of 1,530.35.

The market barometer opened 4.43 points lower at 1,525.92 and hovered between 1,512.75 and 1,526.02 throughout the morning trade.

Overall, market breadth was slightly negative with losers edging past gainers 474 to 469, while 392 counters were unchanged, 802 untraded and 32 others suspended.

Total volume stood at 3.62 billion units worth RM1.93 billion.

Across the board, pharmaceutical and rubber glove counters emerged as top gainers, boosted by demand due to the rising number of Covid-19 cases.

Pharmaniaga added 43 sen to RM5.12, Duopharma improved 19 sen to RM3.64, Rubberex increased 40 sen to RM6.49, Supermax climbed 38 sen to RM9.92 and Astino was 22 sen better at 90.5 sen.

Top Glove strengthened 12 sen to RM8.93 and Hartalega was six sen firmer at RM17.46.

Selling in heavyweights was led by Maybank which fell 13 sen to RM7.27, followed by Tenaga which dropped 16 sen to RM10.24, while Public Bank shed 22 sen to RM15.92, Sime Darby Plantations was 12 sen lower at RM5.04 and CIMB eased six sen to RM3.10.

The strong demand in pharmaceutical and glove counters lifted the Healthcare Index by 102.82 points to 4,056.25, while the Financial Services Index contracted 139.60 points to 12,524.78, the Plantation Index dwindled 30.17 points to 7,045.05 and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.24 of-a-point to 142.21.

Yesterday, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah announced that the new Covid-19 infections in the country jumped to 561 cases overnight compared to 374 cases on Saturday, with two deaths reported, bringing the country’s infection tally to 15,657 with 4,587 active cases.

Meanwhile, on the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 49.03 points to 10,971.89, the FBMT 100 Index shrank 52.04 points to 10,788.77 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index shed 17.84 points to 13,112.89.

The FBM 70 improved 53.97 points to 14,418.61 and the FBM ACE climbed 87.76 point to 10,644.91. — Bernama