KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 — Bursa Malaysia bucked the regional trend to close higher for the second consecutive day today, on persistent buying support in index-linked counters led by Petronas Chemicals and IHH Healthcare.

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 16.13 points or 1.18 per cent to 1,387.79 from 1,371.66 at Tuesday’s close.

The key index, which opened 3.96 points firmer at 1,375.62 this morning, fluctuated between 1,375.12 and 1,394.66 throughout the day.  

Petronas Chemicals advanced 25 sen to RM5.42 with 6.31 million shares changing hands while IHH Healthcare earned 14 sen to RM5.23 with 3.55 million shares transacted. Both stocks contributed a combined 5.88 points to the rise in the composite index.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd head of research Kenny Yee said Bursa Malaysia is in the recovery phase with investors’ optimism over the country’s gradually improving economy following the government’s decision to allow several sub-sectors to resume operations.

Speaking to Bernama, he also said the flattening curve of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia has also partly aided the better sentiment in the market, which was boosted by the better-than-expected trade data from China released Tuesday.

Universiti Malaya public health specialist Dr Rafdzah Ahmad Zaki reportedly said Malaysia’s efforts to flatten the curve of Covid-19 cases might see results in the middle of May and the number of new cases would likely drop at the end of April.

Meanwhile, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economy) Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed had reportedly said that Malaysia welcomed the decision by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries members and allies (OPEC+) to cut production by nearly 10 million barrels per day (bpd). 

The decision was made to stabilise the global oil market and ensure supply security for consumers.

He said despite being a small producer and net importer of oil, Malaysia has agreed to slash its crude oil production by 136,000 bpd for May and June.

On the scoreboard, gainers led losers 544 to 352, while 370 counters were unchanged, 638 untraded and 19 others suspended.

Turnover increased to 5.54 billion shares worth RM2.73 billion from 4.79 billion shares worth RM2.08 billion registered yesterday.

Among heavyweights, Maybank and Maxis rose six sen each to RM7.64 and RM5.30 respectively, Tenaga bagged 10 sen to RM12.24, while Public Bank was flat at RM15.84.

CIMB however, slipped one sen to RM3.56.

Of the actives, Mtouche perked 1.5 sen to 8.5 sen and Minetech inched up half-a-sen to 25.5 sen.

Sapura Energy adn Vortex slipped half-a-sen each to 10 sen and 8.5 sen respectively, Hibiscus lost two sen to 47.5 sen, and MCT eased one sen to 17.5 sen. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 120.54 points stronger at 9,609.5, the FBMT 100 Index climbed 121.74 points to 9,505.41, the FBM Emas Shariah Index soared 176.23 points to 10,646.4, the FBM ACE bagged 35.66 points to 4,307.79 while the FBM 70 advanced 191.57 points to 11,311.07.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index expanded 51.92 points to 12,417.7, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 2.47 points to 115.37 and the Plantation Index garnered 39.92 points to 6,286.63.

Main Market volume increased to 3.74 billion shares worth RM2.45 billion from 2.98 billion shares valued at RM1.82 billion yesterday.

Warrants turnover widened to 379.19 million units worth RM66.34 million from 300.77 million units valued at RM59.09 million.

Volume on the ACE Market, however, slipped to 1.42 billion shares worth RM215.27 million from 1.51 billion shares worth RM192.11 million previously.

Consumer products and services accounted for 515.64 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (764.82 million), construction (329.88 million), technology (338.73 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (69.09 million), property (540.24 million), plantations (77.23 million), REITs (16.36 million), closed/fund (13,700), energy (765.84 million), healthcare (66.79 million), telecommunications and media (73.56 million), transportation and logistics (144.36 million), and utilities (33.34 million). — Bernama