KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 — Bursa Malaysia closed higher today, joining most of its regional peers in a rally amid the ceasefire in the US-China trade war.
However, the implementation of the “sugar tax” that kicked off today has been catastrophic for sweetened beverage-linked counters, including Nestle, Dutch Lady and F&N.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) jumped 11.49 points, or 0.69 per cent, to close at the day’s high of 1,683.62 after opening at the intra-day low of 1,674.91.
The barometer index opened 2.78 points higher at 1,674.91 compared with 1,672.13 at Friday’s closing.
Market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing losers 679 to 214, while 351 counters were unchanged, 584 untraded and 18 others suspended.
Turnover surged to 3.31 billion units worth RM2.18 billion from 2.22 billion units valued at RM1.84 billion last Friday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd said in a note today that the simmering trade war between the US and China appeared to be cooling off, at least for now.
“Though nothing concrete has been laid on the plate, many observers expect that both parties will resist making any more irrational moves on tariffs,” it said.
Regionally, the Singapore Straits Times Index rose 1.52 per cent to 3,372.26, Japan’s Nikkei was 2.13 per cent better at 21,729.97 and Shanghai’s SSE climbed 2.22 per cent to 3,044.90.
Meanwhile, a dealer said market participants also hailed the news that Russia and Saudi Arabia agreed to extend cuts in crude oil output by another six to nine months after June 30.
The news had buoyed oil and gas (O&G)-related counters to be actively traded on the local bourse. Among the actives, KNM and its warrants bagged four sen each to 29.5 sen and 10 sen, respectively, Bumi Armada ticked up one sen to 22.5 sen, Perdana Petroleum accumulated three sen to 37.5 sen and Dayang Enterprise was seven sen firmer at RM1.25.
Of the heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals surged 34 sen to RM8.74, Axiata increased 17 sen to RM5.15, RHB gained 19 sen to RM5.78, Tenaga added 12 sen to RM13.96 and Maybank was three sen higher at RM8.91.
However, following the implementation of an excise tax on sweetened beverages today, Nestle emerged as the top loser on Bursa Malaysia, erasing 70 sen to RM148.40.
F&N and Dutch Lady were not spared, with F&N losing 16 sen to RM34.40 while the latter was 10 sen lower at RM63.90.
In the 2019 Budget, the government proposed a 40 sen tax per litre to be imposed on soft drinks with more than five grammes of sugar or sugar-based sweetener per 100ml starting April 1, 2019, but the implementation was postponed till today. Juice or vegetable-based drinks with over 12 grammes of sugar per 100mil are also taxed.
The FBM Emas Index soared 103.58 points to 11,885.16, the FBMT 100 Index strengthened 95.92 points to 11,727.57 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 133.13 higher at 12,266.07.
The FBM 70 increased 185.21 points to 14,784.92 and the FBM Ace put on 92.38 points to 4,537.83.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index advanced 86.30 points to 16,772.91, the Industrial Products & Services Index inched up 2.80 points to 163.52 and the Plantation Index gained 9.38 points to 6,978.28.
Main Market volume surged to 2.59 billion shares worth RM2.02 billion from 1.59 billion shares worth RM1.72 billion last Friday.
Warrants turnover, however, fell to 302.71 million units valued at 43.23 million compared with 312.28 million units valued at RM68.32 million.
Volume on the ACE Market increased to 416.62 million shares worth RM117.97 million versus 319.60 million shares worth RM57.76 million.
Consumer products and services accounted for 224.18 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (239.54 million), construction (250.25 million), technology (255.40 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (52.17 million), property (168.27 million), plantation (12.49 million), REITs (15.02 million), closed/fund (5,000), energy (1.23 billion), healthcare (17.20 million), telecommunications and media (67.24 million), transportation and logistics (25.84 million) and utilities (15.26 million). — Bernama
