The Malaysian stock exchange opened high today, increasing earlier than last night's decline following the kingdom's announcement to start a vaccination program for workers in critical economic sectors under phase four of the National Covid-19 Immunization Program.
At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) market guide was up 3.0 points at 1,584.48 from 1,581.48 when closed overnight.
Bernama reported, the index opened 1.87 points higher at 1,583.35 today.
The market mood is positive with profit counters overcoming loss counters by 220 to 188, while 283 counters are unchanged, 1,469 are not traded and another 29 are suspended.
Total merchandise amounted to 472.02 million units valued at RM184.07 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd continued its note today saying that the kingdom's announcement to start vaccinating workers in critical economic sectors has turned investors sentiment on a positive note.
“By sector, crude palm oil (MSM) prices continued their decline, while crude oil prices remained unchanged at around US$72 a barrel.
"Therefore, we expect that the transportation and logistics counters will continue to record good achievements under the Movement Control Order (PKP) which is being implemented," he explained.
The investigative firm added, recovery-themed stocks may be the highlight in the near term following better market sentiment following the increase in vaccination rates in the country.
"In fact, the farming counter might get support from the IJM Plantations takeover agreement," he said.
Overnight, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd (KLK) announced its reserve to take over 494.87 million shares in IJM Plantations Bhd from IJM Corp Bhd at RM1.53 billion.
IJM Plantations went on to become one of the profit counters this morning, plunging 53 cents to RM2.99 with 3.18 million shares traded, while KLK rose 28 cents to RM22.04 with 53,200 shares traded.
Last night, the Minister for the Alignment of the National Covid-19 Immunization Program, Khairy Jamaluddin said, the Special Office for Guaranteeing Access to Covid-19 Vaccine Supplies would cooperate with non-profit companies owned by the Ministry of Health, Protect Health Corporation Sdn Bhd to manage the control of vaccination injections for the sector.
In a media session with the Minister of Health, Datuk Seri Dr. Adham Baba regarding the development of the National Covid-19 Immunization Program last night, Khairy said the industrial sectors involved were manufacturing, export, logistics, transportation, manpower, utilities and other related matters.
In high equity circles, Maybank was unchanged at RM8.20, Public Bank was up two cents at RM4.22, PetChem was up eight cents at RM8.13 and TNB was down three cents at RM9.96.
For active stocks, Vsolar was unchanged at two cents, Cuscapi added 1.5 cents to 29 cents and Managepay was down two cents to 24.5 cents.
On the index board, the Shariah Gold FBM Index rose 29.51 points to 11,556.12, the FBMT 100 Index rose 26.44 points to 11,241.02 and the ACE FBM gained 31.17 points to 7,698.98.
The Sharia Gold FBM Index increased 41.65 points to 12,710.52 and the FBM 70 rose 55.19 points to 14,958.46.
By sector, the Financial Services Index fell 6.16 points to 15,289.35, the Industrial Products and Services Index rose 0.58 points to 192.87 and the Agriculture Index fell 63.67 points to 6,814.89.
