KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 30 — Bursa Malaysia continued to be in positive territory at mid-afternoon but its gains have narrowed since midday break amid renewed concerns that the existing Covid-19 vaccines may not work in addressing the new variant, Omicron.
At 3.05pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was up 3.28 points at 1,513.85 compared with 1,510.57 yesterday.
The index opened 2.01 points firmer at 1,512.58.
On the broader market, gainers beat losers 514 to 458, while 394 counters were unchanged, 939 untraded, and 63 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 3.45 billion units worth RM2.81 billion.
According to reports, vaccines to tackle Omicron could take months to be manufactured.
On Bursa Malaysia, the Healthcare Index lost 2.08 per cent or 53.07 points to 2,487.19 on continued profit-taking, with IHH easing one sen to RM6.59, Top Glove dipping 17 sen to RM3.02 and Hartalega shedding 14 sen to RM6.26.
Among the other heavyweights, Maybank fell one sen to RM8.04, Public Bank was flat at RM3.96, Petronas Chemicals was up 27 sen to RM8.48, Tenaga gained two sen to RM9.28, and CIMB slid one sen to RM5.10.
The most active stocks were ATA IMS, which dropped four sen to 48 sen, followed by Top Glove and DNeX, which eased half-a-sen to 79 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index advanced 38.08 points to 11,092.95, the FBMT 100 Index rose 37.83 points to 10,778.07, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 63.19 points to 12,124.11.
The FBM 70 increased 108.08 points to 14,490.40 while the FBM ACE put on 15.79 points to 6,531.70.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 2.85 points to 194.90, the Plantation Index was 33.72 points higher at 6,390.04 and the Financial Services Index bagged 36.13 points to 15,079.54. — Bernama
