KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia stayed higher almost across the board at mid-afternoon, with gains recorded in key index-linked counters led by healthcare sectors amid increased Covid-19 cases worldwide.
At 3.04pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 10.65 points, or 0.70%, to 1,514.49 from 1,503.84 at Friday’s close.
The market barometer opened 3.37 points higher at 1,507.21.
On the scoreboard, gainers led losers 620 to 391, while 439 counters were unchanged, 701 untraded and 23 others suspended.
Total volume stood at 6.57 billion units worth RM3.40 billion.
Among the 30 FBM KLCI constituents, 21 stocks were higher, with two stocks traded flat and seven stocks lower. Gains were led by two healthcare counters; Top Glove, which jumped 28 sen to RM9.53 and Hartalega which rose 44 sen to RM18.82, while industrial products and services-linked Petronas Chemicals advanced 16 sen to RM6.02 and another healthcare linked stock, IHH was five sen higher at RM5.
Meanwhile, finance-related RHB Bank and CIMB Group were each flat at RM4.30 and RM3.05, while Hong Leong slipped two sen to RM14.98 and consumer products and services-linked Sime Darby eased one sen to RM2.41.
Yinson led the top losers, erasing 73 sen to RM4.70, followed by Petronas Dagangan, dropping 12 to RM18.86 and Khind Holdings was 10 sen weaker at RM2.08.
Other active counters included Lambo, which inched up half-a-sen to 3.5 sen, Luster Industries added 4.5 sen to 22 sen and Mah Sing was 18.5 sen better at RM1.13.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 67.81 points to 11,005.88, the FBMT 100 Index advanced 60.52 points to 10,800.74 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 105.97 points to 13,246.59.
The FBM 70 leapt 22 points to 14,593.71 and the FBM ACE soared 165.57 points to 11,137.45.
The Financial Services Index gained 5.34 points to 12,415.01, the Plantation Index improved 45.04 points to 6,903.55 and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 2.71 points to 146.31. – Bernama, October 19, 2020
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