KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 7 — Bursa Malaysia opened higher in the early trading session, lifted by some heavyweights in the healthcare sector amid daily rise in Covid-19 cases in the country, an analyst said.
Malaysia recorded 10,089 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the total cumulative to 2,914,220 cases.
At 9.10am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) improved 5.96 points to 1,528.72 from 1,522.76 at Friday’s close, after opening 2.47 points higher at 1,525.23.
Market breadth was positive with gainers leading losers 255 to 121, while 237 counters were unchanged, 1,603 untraded and 22 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 211.82 million units worth RM120.25 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd, in a note, said the healthcare sector may come under limelight amid surging daily Covid-19 cases.
“Nevertheless, the local bourse could remain volatile with the daily Covid-19 cases breaching above the 10,000 mark on Sunday under the Omicron wave,” it said.
Among the heavyweights, Top Glove advanced 11 sen to RM2.28, Hartalega improved 13 sen to RM5.73, Press Metal added 18 sen to RM6.39, and Maybank gained four sen to RM8.30.
As for the actives, DneX rose two sen to RM1.03, AT Systematization inched up half-a-sen to three sen, and Alam Maritim stayed flat at 3.5 sen.
On the index board, FBM ACE advanced 42.82 points to 6,228.56, FBM 70 strengthened 53.10 points to 13,532.35, FBM Emas Index firmed 44.30 points to 11,003.87, FBMT 100 Index gained 41.71 points to 10,684.64, and FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 68.40 points to 11,735.21.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index added 26.34 points to 15,812.03, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 1.80 points better at 205.10, and the Plantation Index was 0.89 of-a-point higher at 6,544.75. — Bernama
