Bursa Malaysia ended lower after being dragged by persistent profit-taking in the healthcare sector, particularly glove-maker stocks. — Picture by Hari Anggara
The key index opened 1.15 points higher at 1,579.29 and moved between 1,558.07 and 1,579.29 throughout the session. Regionally, the Asian shares closed mostly higher, paring earlier losses on positive market sentiment brought by new hopes on the US new stimulus package as President Donald Trump’s recent executive orders pushed the opposition Democrats back to the discussion table.
“Although major decliners consisted of glove players, the Bursa Healthcare Index was buffered by pharmaceutical counters, namely Duopharma Biotech and Pharmaniaga, which were probably driven by a shift from the glove counters to pharmaceutical counters, underpinned by hopes of a COVID-19 vaccine,” he added.
Of the most actives, Borneo Oil added one sen to 8.5 sen, Pegasus edged up half-a-sen to 4.5 sen, XOX and Vivocom were 1.5 sen better at nine sen and 30.5 sen and 4.5 sen, respectively, and AT Systematization bagged two sen to 12 sen.