KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia reversed its earlier losses to end the morning session slightly higher, thanks to gains in selected heavyweights led by Tenaga and Maxis.
Despite weak regional peers, the benchmark index FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) recovered 0.91 point to 1,388.7 against 1,387.79 recorded at Wednesday’s close.
The key index, which opened 5.83 points easier at 1,381.96, moved between 1,378.3 and 1,390.14 throughout the morning session.
Tenaga lifted the composite index by 2.277 points after rising 22 sen to RM12.46 with 846,200 shares transacted, while Maxis rose 13 sen to RM5.43 with 1.14 million shares changing hands.
It was reported that the fallout from the Covid-19 outbreak has exerted a significant impact on various sectors across the board, especially energy consumption, as the economy is operating at only about 45% capacity amid the movement control order.
The International Energy Agency estimated that electricity demand in countries with partial and full lockdown has declined by around 15% in markets where strong confinement has been adopted.
“This is a huge amount for a sector that tends to be highly predictable and where planners seek to precisely forecast energy demand in real-time in order to match with supply,” Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs senior fellow Dr Renato Lima de Oliveira said.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 418 to 244, while 399 counters were unchanged, 843 untraded and 19 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 2.47 billion shares worth RM1.08 mil.
Among heavyweights, CIMB bagged three sen to RM3.59 while Public Bank was flat at RM15.84.
Maybank eased four sen to RM7.60, IHH Healthcare trimmed three sen to RM5.20, and Petronas Chemicals lost six sen to RM5.36.
Among the actives, Xidelang gained 1.5 sen to 8.5 sen, Hibiscus slipped half-a-sen to 47 sen, while Lambo, Netx and Bumi Armada were flat at two sen, 1.5 sen and 17.5 sen respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index improved 25.79 points to 9,635.29, the FBM Emas Shariah Index earned 41.81 points to 10,688.21, the FBMT 100 Index appreciated 22.18 points to 9,527.6, the FBM 70 advanced 92.81 points to 11,403.89, and the FBM Ace increased 75.43 points to 4,383.22.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gained 0.71 point to 12,418.41, but the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 0.1 point to 115.27 and the Plantation Index fell 11.59 points to 6,275.04. – April 16, 2020, Bernama
