KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 7 — Bursa Malaysia ended higher today with the key index advancing 0.52 per cent on strong buying interest, mainly lifted by selected heavyweights in glove and banking counters, an analyst said.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) improved by 7.89 points to 1,530.65 from 1,522.76 last Friday.

The index opened 2.47 points higher at 1,525.23, its intraday low, and hit a high of 1,535.12 in the morning session.

Overall market breadth was positive with gainers outnumbering losers 539 to 383, while 408 counters were unchanged, 886 untraded, and 22 others suspended.

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Total turnover improved to 3.08 billion units worth RM2.30 billion against 2.43 billion units worth RM1.65 billion recorded last Friday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said investors were seen taking positions in glove stocks following the resurgence in the daily Covid-19 cases recorded in the country.

The Ministry of Health reported that the country logged in 11,034 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, bringing the cumulative total to 2,925,254 cases.

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“Nonetheless, we believe this is just a short-term play as seen in previous rise in cases domestically,” Thong told Bernama.

Among the heavyweights, Top Glove added 18 sen to RM2.35, Hartalega surged 23 sen to RM5.83, Maybank increased seven sen to RM8.33, Petronas Chemicals gained nine sen to RM9.05, and Press Metal added eight sen to RM6.29.

As for the actives, SMTrack and Kanger both rose one sen to 18.5 sen and three sen, respectively, while DneX slipped four sen to 97 sen, and Hibiscus Petroleum lost one sen to RM1.08.

On the index board, the FBM ACE advanced 62.54 points to 6,248.28, FBM 70 gained 70.16 points to 13,549.41, FBM Emas Index rose 59.29 points to 11,018.86, FBMT 100 Index bagged 55.21 points to 10,698.14, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 87.69 points to 11,754.50.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index expanded 40.93 points to 15,826.62, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 1.31 points to 204.61, and the Plantation Index increased 67.91 points to 6,611.77.

The Main Market volume improved to 1.88 billion shares valued at RM2.04 billion from 1.55 billion shares valued at RM1.39 billion on Friday.

Warrants turnover narrowed to 307.65 million units worth RM33.57 million against 314.12 million units worth RM37.82 million previously.

The ACE Market volume swelled to 891.09 million shares valued at RM232.67 million versus 569.85 million shares valued at RM214.62 million on Friday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 259.41 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (458.81 million), construction (73.16 million), technology (271.43 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (57.81 million), property (149.18 million), plantation (41.22 million), REITs (9.01 million), closed/fund (21,900), energy (296.83 million), healthcare (183.95 million), telecommunications and media (26.67 million), transportation and logistics (26.21 million), and utilities (25.08 million). — Bernama