KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 — Bursa Malaysia continued its rally to mid-afternoon today, despite weak economic data, amidst reports that officials from the United States and China are resuming their negotiations on phase one trade deal.
At 3.05pm, key index FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) jumped 11.86 points to 1,388.79 from Wednesday’s close of 1,376.93. The FBM KLCI opened 5.19 points higher at 1,382.12
Market breadth was positive with gainers overwhelming losers 541 to 270, while 388 counters were unchanged, 676 untraded and 27 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 3.31 billion shares worth RM1.74 billion.
The Statistics Department today reported that Malaysia’s unemployment rate is at its highest in 10 years since June 2010 at 3.5 per cent, reflecting the negative impact of the movement control order on the labour market.
Among heavyweights, Maybank added two sen to RM7.43, TNB jumped 20 sen to RM12.36, Public Bank increased 10 sen to RM15.84, IHH Healthcare gained six sen to RM5.25, Petronas Chemicals advanced eight sen to RM5.55 and Maxis went up seven sen to RM5.33.
As for actives, Advance Synergy rose 1.5 sen to 13.5 sen, Careplus was 3.5 sen higher at 56.5 sen, Key Asic and Bioalpha edged up half-a-sen to 9.5 sen and 13.5 sen, respectively, while Key Alliance and Sanichi Technology were flat at 11 sen and 4.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas index put on 92.41 points at 9,776.07, the FBMT 100 Index increased 92.56 points to 9,629.53, the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 111.36 points to 10,895.29, the FBM ACE added 53.05 points to 4,980.71 and the FBM 70 surged 157.0 points to 11,945.29.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index strengthened 85.05 points to 12,315.63, the Industrial Products and Services Index gained 1.03 points to 121.47, and the Plantation Index went down 3.46 points to 6,275.07. — Bernama
