Bursa Malaysia jumps higher after two-day break

KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 — Bursa Malaysia resumed trading on a higher note today after being closed for two days, as hopes for global recovery lifted the market sentiment.

The local market was closed on Monday and yesterday for the Hari Raya Aidilfitri holiday.

At 9.04am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 13.39 points, or 0.93 per cent to 1,450.15 from Friday’s close of 1,436.76.

The index opened 10.15 points higher at 1,446.91.

Gains in Hartalega and Top Glove boosted the composite index by 12.78 points after rising by RM1.16 each to RM11.16 and RM12.98, respectively.

A dealer said the Bursa rose higher in tandem with regional peers, echoing the overnight gains on Wall Street on optimism over the development of Covid-19 vaccines, coupled with the revival of business activities.

The overall market breadth was bullish with gainers trouncing losers 420 to 84, while 182 counters were unchanged, 1,209 untraded and 24 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 426.01 million units worth RM258.19 million.

Among heavyweights, Tenaga and Public Bank rose six sen each to RM12.26 and RM15.32, respectively, while IHH was flat at RM5.43.

Maybank slipped five sen to RM7.38 and Petronas Chemicals shed 10 sen to RM5.80.

Of the most actives, Key Alliance bagged 1.5 sen to nine sen, Velesto earned one sen to 17 sen, while P.A Resources, Vortex and Sapura Energy inched up half-a-sen each to six sen, eight sen and 10.5 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index chalked up 116.84 points to 10,293.96, the FBMT 100 Index increased 99.8 points to 10,125.12, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index jumped 199.83 points to 11,820.17.

The FBM ACE was 84.83 points higher at 5,472.62 and the FBM 70 soared 152.42 points to 12,847.52.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.37 of-a-point to 124.76, the Plantation Index gained 10.42 points to 6,733.27, but the Financial Services Index decreased 18.62 points to 12,362.11. — Bernama