KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 — Bursa Malaysia continued to hold strong in mid-morning trade as the market seemed to shrug off movement control order (MCO 2.0) concerns that had dampened investor sentiment from last week.

At 11am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) surged 22.58 points to 1,634.62 amid continued gains almost across the board.

The index opened 5.64 points higher at 1,617.68 compared with 1,612.04 at yesterday’s close.

On the broader market, gainers trounced losers 820 to 255, while 329 counters were unchanged, 695 untraded and 11 others suspended.

Total volume stood at 3.04 billion units worth RM1.73 billion.

Malacca Securities said market sentiment was lifted by a nationwide state of emergency proclaimed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah that would be enforced until Aug 1, 2021.

"While the move should be reducing some of the political uncertainties in the country, the key index still closed lower (on Tuesday) as the number of Covid-19 cases remains high,” it said in a note.

The reimplementation of the MCO in five states and the federal territories began today and will continue until Jan 26.

Many analysts also opined that the proclamation of emergency at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic and political issues are worsening is timely to ensure the survival of the people and the economy.

The banking counters led the way among heavyweights with Public Bank surging RM1.10 to RM21.18 and Maybank gaining 22 sen to RM8.22.

TNB and CIMB went up 12 sen each to RM10.24 and RM4.04, respectively.

Of the actives, Metronic was half-a-sen higher at 10.5 sen, PNE added three sen to 65.6 sen and Yong Tai was 1.5 sen better at 31 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gained 172.32 points to 11,724.38, the FBMT 100 Index expanded 167.01 points to 11,467.25, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 90.62 points to 13,1250.45.

The FBM 70 lifted 248.58 points to 14,758.17 and the FBM ACE improved 139.30 points to 10,642.79.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index climbed 417.71 points to 14,964.22, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 2.01 points to 174.97 and the Plantation Index rose 18.05 points to 7,480,49. — Bernama