KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 — Bursa Malaysia bucked the regional trend to close in a firm note today, with the key index ended at its intraday-high, spurred by strong rally in Top Glove and Hartalega.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished 17.11 points or 1.1 per cent higher at 1,577.85 from yesterday’s close of 1,560.74.

The key index, which opened 1.1 points weaker at 1,559.64, moved to as low as 1,557.25 at one time.

Top Gloves and Hartalega rebounded strongly after their recent sell-off, gaining RM3.66 to RM26.08 and RM2.00 to RM17.56, respectively.

Gains in both stocks contributed a substantial 33.368 points to the rise in the composite index.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said glove manufacturers recouped their losses as bargain-hunting emerged.

“All glove counters fell from their highs on Monday following concerns over a possible windfall tax on glove makers’ supernormal profits.

“Turns out none of the glove counters had been consulted regarding this tax. So that helped the sentiment recover today, hence the bargain hunting,” he told Bernama.

Top Glove Corp Bhd chairman Tan Sri Dr Lim Wee Chai reportedly said the company and the Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association had not been consulted by the government on the implementation of windfall tax.

Earlier today, Deputy Finance Minister II Mohd Shahar Abdullah reportedly said the government has not decided on whether to impose a windfall tax on industries that have been outperforming during the pandemic.

Speaking in Parliament today, he however said Putrajaya “has a broad-based policy”.

Of the other rubber glove stocks, Supermax rose RM4.10 to RM20.80 while Kossan Rubber chalked up RM2.32 to RM16.00.

Total volume on Bursa increased sharply to 10.6 billion shares worth RM6.92 billion from Monday’s 8.79 billion shares worth RM4.95 billion.

Market breadth was bullish with gainers hammering losers 665 to 446, while 371 counters were unchanged, 529 untraded and 23 others suspended.

Of the heavyweights, Tenaga rose four sen to RM11.16 and IHH Healthcare perked five sen to RM5.42.

Maybank fell 18 sen to RM7.63, Public Bank erased 14 sen to RM17.66, and Petronas Chemicals lost 12 sen to RM6.15.

Among the most active, Borneo Oil and DGB were half-a-sen lower at 6.5 sen and 5.5 sen respectively, XOX shed one sen to 19 sen, while Sapura Energy added half-a-sen to 12.5 sen.

ACE market debutant Optimax rose 38.5 sen to 68.5 sen, with 106.89 million shares changing hands.

The eye specialist service provider plans to use 49.31 per cent of the RM21 million raised through the initial public offering for capital expenditure, 16.76 per cent for repayment of borrowings, 16.79 per cent for working capital, and 17.14 per cent for listing expenses.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 188.1 points to 11,295.85, the FBM Emas Shariah Index jumped 393.5 points to 13,235.08 while the FBMT 100 Index expanded 181.0 points to 11,118.02

The FBM 70 shot up 473.43 points to 14,500.44 and the FBM ACE skyrocketed 577.88 points to 10,438.23.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gave up 159.6 points for 13,177.12, the Plantation Index declined 39.31 points to 7,006.76, while the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 0.1 point to 141.01.

Main Market volume increased sharply to 5.62 billion shares worth RM5.06 billion compared with 4.75 billion shares valued at RM3.71 billion yesterday.

Warrants turnover widened to 647.87 million units worth RM232.29 million from 510.44 million units valued at RM184.18 million.

Volume on the ACE Market expanded to 4.34 billion shares worth RM1.62 billion from yesterday’s 3.53 billion shares valued at RM1.06 billion.

Consumer products and services accounted for 1.23 billion shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.97 billion), construction (122.31 million), technology (530.18 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (44.61 million), property (330.01 million), plantations (35.91 million), REITs (15.71 million), closed/fund (27,500), energy (719.96 million), healthcare (128.99 million), telecommunications and media (294.51 million), transportation and logistics (162.89 million), and utilities (33.82 million). — Bernama