KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 — Bursa Malaysia has rallied strongly at mid-morning, surpassing the 1,600 level, lifted by continuous buying in glove-linked stocks.
At 11.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shot up 12.56 points, or 0.79 per cent to 1,604.04 from 1,591.48 at yesterday’s close.
The key index opened 3.16 points higher at 1,594.64.
Market breadth was positive, with gainers leading losers 526 to 398, while 389 counters were unchanged, 696 untraded and 30 others suspended.
Trading volume stood at 5.51 billion worth RM2.79 billion.
Of the heavyweights, glovemakers Hartelega soared RM1.40 to RM19.70, while Top Glove garnered 12 sen to RM26.00.
At mid-morning, Top Glove also overtook Public Bank to become the second largest firm on the local exchange, with a market capitalisation worth RM69.76 billion versus Public Bank’s RM67.86 billion.
This is the second time that the world’s largest glove maker took the second spot in terms of market capitalisation, a spot which it claimed last Thursday (July 23).
Maybank, which ticked up two sen to RM7.84, retained its position as the largest company listed on Bursa Malaysia, with a market capitalisation of RM87.70 billion.
The top gainers list was led by glove counters, as Rubberex added 53 sen to RM4.53, Supermax bagged 76 sen to RM18.20 while Supermax’s call warrants, Supermax-C78 and Supermax C-80, increased 48 sen each to RM8.25 and RM11.24, respectively.
XOX was the most actively traded equity in the morning session, advancing 3.5 sen to 28 sen, while Borneo Oil and Key Alliance edged up half-a-sen each to five sen and 9.5 sen respectively, AT Systematizaion rose 1.5 sen to nine sen and Ageson advanced one sen to 17.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index leapt 96.98 points to 11,419.99, the FBMT 100 Index appreciated 92.39 points to 11,251.75 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 152.10 points firmer at 13,376.96.
The FBM 70 gained 135.95 points to 14,475.37 and the FBM ACE was 157.06 points higher at 8,421.23.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index strengthened 44.97 points to 7,207.08, the Industrial Products and Services Index rose 1.45 point to 141.57 while the Financial Services Index accumulated 20.27 points to 13,378.35. — Bernama
