KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 — Bursa Malaysia staged a relief rally with the key index closing above the 1,570-mark today as traders heaved a sigh of relief after learning that no total lockdown would be implemented under the movement control order 3.0 (MCO 3.0).
Rakuten Trade head of equity sales Vincent Lau said the local bourse also moved in line with the uptrend seen in most regional markets.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 9.65 points, or 0.62 per cent, to 1,571.82 from 1,562.17 at last Friday’s close.
The index opened 1.61 points firmer at 1,563.78 and hovered between 1,563.57 and 1,576.96 throughout the day.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 902 to 282, while 332 counters were unchanged, 686 untraded and 19 others suspended.
Total volume shrank to 6.75 billion units worth RM3.47 billion from 7.53 billion units worth RM4.07 billion last Friday.
Commenting on today’s performance, Lau said the rebound was within expectations as the local bourse, especially the FBM KLCI, had lost around 30 points since early May.
“We are seeing traders starting to accumulate those stocks which have been oversold previously,” he told Bernama.
Sharing similar views with Lau, MIDF Research head of research Imran Yassin Md Yusof said with no total lockdown as was speculated earlier, the current MCO 3.0 with tightened standard operating procedures might minimise the impact on the corporate earnings.
“Hence, the favourable market reaction is observed today,” he said, adding that some bargain hunting activities were also seen after the selloff last week.
Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index edged up 0.18 per cent to 3,123.61, Japan’s Nikkei improved 0.17 per cent to 28,364.61, while the Shanghai Composite Index was 0.31 per cent firmer at 3,497.28.
Among the 30 FBM KLCI constituents, Maybank bagged 10 sen to RM8.34, Press Metal Aluminium accumulated 12 sen to RM5.12 Axiata and Maxis gained nine sen each to RM3.49 and RM4.63 respectively, while Sime Darby Plantation was eight sen better at RM4.51.
Of the actives, Privasia Technology perked up 8.5 sen to 26 sen, Ucrest improved eight sen to 43.5 sen, Saudee rose 4.5 sen to 25 sen, Eka Noodles was three sen firmer at five sen, while Focus Dynamics slid half-a-sen to six sen.
The top gainers list was led by MPI which surged RM1.80 to RM37.16 while top loser was F&N, losing 40 sen to RM25.82.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index jumped 117.02 points to 11,453.05 and the FBMT 100 Index increased 100.18 points to 11,142.40.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 133.70 points to 12,741.73, the FBM ACE surged 209.74 points to 7,834.61 and the FBM 70 soared 256.43 points to 14,793.09.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index expanded 108.21 points to 14,876.21, the Plantation Index added 32.01 points to 6,931.53, and the Industrial Products and Services Index climbed 3.59 points to 190.89.
Main Market volume declined to 3.57 billion shares worth RM2.58 billion compared with 4.24 billion shares worth RM3.08 billion last Friday.
Warrants turnover was lower at 223.20 million units valued at RM24.48 million from 336.54 million units worth RM30.90 million previously.
Volume on the Ace Market was flat at 2.95 billion shares worth RM870.47 million versus 2.95 billion shares worth RM955.16 million previously.
Consumer products and services accounted for 1.0 billion shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.05 billion), construction (138.90 million), technology (596.45 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (63.17 million), property (221.93 million), plantation (28.61 million), REITs (6.96 million), closed/fund (16,000), energy (218.33 million), healthcare (64.63 million), telecommunications and media (96.38 million), transportation and logistics (59.89 million), and utilities (12.61 million). — Bernama
