KUALA LUMPUR, July 15 — Bursa Malaysia closed higher today as bargain hunting continued throughout today’s trading session in almost all sectors across the board led by healthcare.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 0.56 per cent or 8.50 points to 1,520.82 from yesterday’s close of 1,512.32.   

The market bellwether opened 0.25 of-a-point better at 1,512.57 and moved between 1,511.60 and 1,523.98 throughout the day.

On the broader market, gainers surpassed losers 612 to 348, while 499 counters were unchanged, 769 untraded and 18 others suspended.

Turnover advanced to 5.08 billion units worth RM3.49 billion from yesterday’s 4.37 billion units valued at RM2.99 billion.

An analyst said the lower movement of the key index which hovered below the support level of 1,520 in earlier session, prompted interest from institutional investors to buy on weakness especially in the bluechip stocks.

“While this presented an opportunity for investors to fortify their holdings and help to stabilise the market, the interest in healthcare accelerated following a steep rise in the daily Covid-19 infections,” she told Bernama.

The daily number of Covid-19 infections in Malaysia recorded the highest since the pandemic hit the country at 13,215 cases today, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

IHH Healthcare advanced six sen to RM5.70, Top Glove surged 28 sen to RM4.04, Hartalega jumped 38 sen to RM7.64, LKL was up four sen to 31.5 sen and Careplus perked 23 sen to RM1.99.

Other heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM8.05, Public Bank dropped two sen to RM4.05, Petronas Chemicals added one sen to RM8.04, TNB added 10 sen to RM9.72 and CIMB gained one sen to RM4.54.

As for most active counters, Serba Dinamik improved 4.5 sen to 45.5 sen, followed by LKL and Careplus.

Pasukhas however shed 3.5 sen to 19.5 sen, while Main Market debutant Yenher Holdings fell five sen to 90 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 64.79 points to 11,093.28, the FBMT 100 Index was 59.23 points higher at 10,803.83 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index soared 93.68 points to 12,169.76.   

The FBM ACE leapt 97.70 points to 7,202.85 and the FBM 70 rose 74.65 points to 14,433.23.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index edged up 9.08 points to 14,893.18, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 1.2 points to 188.03, but the Plantation Index was 65.01 points lower at 6,152.32.  

Main Market volume expanded to 3.30 billion shares valued at RM2.65 billion from 2.50 billion shares worth RM2.39 billion yesterday.    

Warrants turnover increased to 257.67 million units worth RM30.86 million from 224.72 million units valued at RM27.94 million previously.

Volume on the ACE Market narrowed to 1.51 billion shares worth RM813.29 million against yesterday’s 1.64 billion shares worth RM573.71 million.

Consumer products and services accounted for 601.57 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.06 billion), construction (131.11 million), technology (373.72 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (43.64 million), property (204.06 million), plantation (20.57 million), REITs (4.76 million), closed/fund (7,000), energy (590.18 million), healthcare (195.64 million), telecommunications and media (19.72 million), transportation and logistics (46.01 million), and utilities (13.27 million). — Bernama