.JPG "An investor monitors the stock prices in the gallery of the RHB Investment Bank Bhd headquarters in Kuala Lumpur March 17, 2020. u00e2u20acu2022 Picture by Hari Anggara")
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 24 ― Bursa Malaysia remained in the green zone at mid-morning as positive corporate earnings continued to lift investors’ sentiment.
While nearly all the 30 FBM KLCI counters were in the positive territory, rubber glove heavyweights remained under selling pressure as Malaysia is slated to receive the second batch of 182,520 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine later today.
At 11.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 8.61 points, or 0.55 per cent to 1,573.66 from 1,565.05 at yesterday’s closing.
The key index opened 5.96 points firmer at 1,571.01.
Market breadth turned negative with losers outpacing gainers 639 to 409, while 409 counters were unchanged, 741 untraded and 15 others suspended.
Total volume stood at 5.41 billion units worth RM2.34 billion.
Among the heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals led the gainers' list after rising 28 sen to RM7.78, followed by Maybank which increased 10 sen to RM7.99.
Press Metal was 21 sen firmer at RM8.93, Axiata improved seven sen to RM3.42, while Maxis advanced eight sen to RM4.76.
In contrast, all three glove-related heavyweights were in the red -- Top Glove slipped 23 sen to RM5.44, Hartalega was 40 sen lower at RM10.66 and Supermax declined 26 sen to RM5.19.
Of the actives, Metronic Global perked 1.5 sen to 12 sen and its warrant was two sen firmer at seven sen, XOX was unchanged at nine sen while its warrant went up one sen to three sen.
Meanwhile, Techna-X eased two sen to 17 sen.
Top gainers included Nestle which leapt 50 sen to RM135.80, Euro Holdings which bagged 44 sen to RM4.34, and Time Dotcom which accumulated 34 sen to RM14.34.
Top losers were led by Carlsberg, erasing 62 sen to RM23.38, followed by Same Engineering and Equipment which declined 43 sen to RM7.00 and Rapid Synergy which fell 41 sen to RM7.44.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index accumulated 36.50 points to 11,587.31, the FBMT 100 Index gained 43.10 points to 11,271.93, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 6.87 points higher at 12,985.37.
The FBM 70 lost 12.41 points to 15,417.07, while the FBM ACE strengthened 20.61 points to 11,129.96.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index jumped 141.33 points to 14,838.15, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 2.76 points to 183.34 and the Plantation Index increased 36.15 points to 7,179.33. ― Bernama
