KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s stock exchange yesterday climbed from a three-month low and a 30-point loss since early this month after the government resisted imposing a full lockdown to avoid derailing a nascent recovery in the economy.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 9.65 points or 0.62 per cent to end at 1,571.82 today from 1,562.17 at last Friday’s close.
At 9.06am, FBM KLCI was up 3.34 points, or 0.21 per cent, and continued climbing until mid-morning, gaining 12.89 points or 0.83 per cent higher to 1,575.06.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said a full lockdown would affect the nation’s growth trajectory.
Adam said this was because the imposition of the movement control order (MCO) 1.0 last year saw the gross domestic product (GDP) contracting by 17.2 per cent year-on-year (yoy) in the second quarter (Q2) of 2021.
“Perhaps today’s climb is more of a positive knee jerk reaction but in reality investors will be assessing whether the benefits of allowing certain economic sectors to operate under the tighter MCO 3.0 will outweigh the costs of the country in handling the pandemic,” he said.
Adam said although there seemed to be no slowing trend in daily Covid-19 cases, it was notable that the number of daily vaccination doses administered in Malaysia (smoothed on a seven-day basis) had hit 83,494 doses on May 22, the highest ever seen since the country commenced its vaccination program in late February.
“Therefore, economic prospects will likely be brighter if such vaccination trends can be sustained moving forward,” he said.
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin recently said the government had sought to balance between the importance of public health and the need for economic growth during MCO 3.0.
“We’d started early just like last year. Our move in enforcing MCO by not closing everything is because we’re thinking ahead.
“Come to think of it today, we should have closed everything. But we need to take care of the lives, the future of the people… their income, their work,” he said in a “Bicara Khas Eksklusif” interview on RTM TV1 and Bernama TV on Sunday.
Among the 30 FBM KLCI constituents, Malayan Banking Bhd added 10 sen to RM8.34, Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd rose 12 sen to RM5.12, Axiata Group Bhd and Maxis Bhd gained nine sen each to RM3.49 and RM4.63 respectively, while Sime Darby Plantation Bhd was eight sen better at RM4.51.
Of the actives, Privasia Technology Bhd perked up 8.5 sen to 26 sen, Ucrest Bhd improved eight sen to 43.5 sen, Saudee Group Bhd rose 4.5 sen to 25 sen, Eka Noodles Bhd was three sen firmer at five sen, while Focus Dynamics Group Bhd slid half-a-sen to six sen.
The top gainers list was led by Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd which surged RM1.80 to RM37.16 while top loser was Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd, losing 40 sen to RM25.82.-NST