KUALA LUMPUR, May 21 — Bursa Malaysia closed higher for the seventh consecutive day today, as investor’s risk appetites continued to flourish particularly in the rubber glove, energy and plantation-linked stocks.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KCLI (FBM KLCI) jumped 16.99 points, or 1.18 per cent to 1,452.11 — a level last seen in March this year.

The barometer index opened 2.78 points firmer at 1,437.49 from 1,435.12 at yesterday’s close, and hovered between 1,437.13 and 1,455.13 throughout the day.

 Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd senior analyst Kenneth Leong said the investors’ upbeat sentiment has spilled over to other glove counters following the uptrend in Supermax yesterday.

Advertisement

 “The firmer crude oil and crude palm oil prices also spurred demand in energy and plantation stocks,” he told Bernama.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, Supermax revealed that its net profit had doubled to RM71.06 million in the third quarter ended March 31, 2020, from RM34.62 million recorded a year earlier.

At the closing bell, trading volume remained strong at 7.15 billion shares worth RM4.65 billion compared to 6.73 billion shares worth RM3.63 billion yesterday.

Advertisement

Leong said the encouraging trading volume was supported by both retail and local institutional participants, and expects the volume to remain high for the next one or two months.

Of the 30 KLCI-linked counters, glove makers Top Glove increased 86 sen to RM11.66 and Hartalega was 58 sen higher at RM10.00.

Oil and gas (O&G)-related stocks such as Petronas Gas, which is also the top gainer on the local exchange, surged RM1.94 to RM17.12, while Petronas Chemicals advanced 33 sen to RM6.17.

Plantation-linked stocks KLK added 58 sen to RM21.86 and Sime Darby Plantation was six sen better at RM4.98.

The list of most active counters continued to be dominated by O&G and glove stocks, as KNM inched up half-a-sen to 22 sen, Velesto eased half-a-sen to 16.5 sen, Bumi Armada slipped one sen to 23 sen, Sapura Energy was flat at 10 sen while Careplus ended half-a-sen lower at 94.5 sen.

Aside from Top Glove, Hartalega and KLK, the list of top gainers also included Kossan, which surged 93 sen to RM8.63, and Supermax, which climbed 81 sen to RM5.40.

The list of top losers was led by consumer stocks, as Nestle lost RM1.10 to RM137.50, Dutch Lady fell 56 sen to RM45.50 and F&N erased 54 sen to RM31.50.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index expanded 141.48 points to 10,305.10, the FBMT 100 Index gained 143.41 points to 10,149.32, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index surged 199.68 points to 11,751.31.

The FBM 70 soared 282.88 points to 12,921.07 and the FBM ACE improved 47.55 points to 5,508.58.

Sector-wise, the Healthcare Index increased 120.99 points to 2,019.06 and the Financial Services Index strengthened 99.89 points to 12,548.69.

The Industrial Products and Services Index ticked up 2.40 points to 127.27, the Plantation Index grew 197.20 points to 6,827.05 but the Energy Index was 1.80 points easier at 819.70.

Main Market volume increased to 4.77 billion shares worth RM3.90 billion versus 4.69 billion shares worth RM2.98 billion on Wednesday.

Warrants turnover widened to 652.84 million units valued at RM145.51 million from 440.28 million units valued at RM95.11 million yesterday.

Volume on the ACE Market rose to 1.72 billion shares worth RM606.32 million as compared with 1.60 billion shares worth RM553.24 million on the previous day.

Consumer products and services accounted for 538.81 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (810.99 million), construction (402.51 million), technology (290.31 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (72.44 million), property (232.06 million), plantations (325.64 million), REITs (7.25 million), closed/fund (11,000), energy (1.58 billion), healthcare (115.79 million), telecommunications and media (195.24 million), transportation and logistics (143.51 million), and utilities (54.83 million). — Bernama