KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 24): Renewed buying interest in glove counters helped to lift the FBM KLCI to close higher at 1,500.80, up 4.32 points, bucking the trend of its regional peers.

The two component stocks — Top Glove Corp Bhd gained 53 sen or 6.61% to close at RM8.55 while Hartalega Holdings Bhd jumped RM1.40 or 9.7% to close at RM15.90. The two counters were the top percentage gainers among the 30 component stocks.

It is worth noting that the largest market cap stock, Malayan Banking Group Bhd, saw its market capitalisation slip below RM80 billion today, after its share price closed down eight sen or 1.12% to its six-month low of RM7.09.

Other index-linked banking stocks such as CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, RHB Bank Bhd and Public Bank Bhd were not spared from the sell-down. CIMB shares closed five sen or 1.61% lower at RM3.05 while RHB BANK ended five sen or 1.08% lower at RM4.59 and Public Bank was down 12 sen or 0.77% at RM15.52.

Other glove counters were also on the uptrend. Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd gained RM1.10 or 9.24% to close at RM13 and Supermax Corp Bhd rose 58 sen or 7.41% to close at RM8.41.

The trading volume shrank 30% to 5.9 billion shares today from 8.45 billion yesterday, indicating the cautious market undertone. However, turnover was slightly higher at RM4.56 billion compared with RM4.33 billion yesterday. There were 511 losers versus 426 gainers while 520 counters remained unchanged.

Metronic Global Bhd was the most actively traded stock with 249.3 million shares traded, which is equivalent to 20% of its share capital, followed by Advance Synergy Bhd, MNC Wireless Bhd and HLT Global Bhd.

The top losers (in value) were Nestle (M) Bhd, Heineken Malaysia Bhd, TIME dotCom Bhd, Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd, Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd, KESM Industries Bhd, PPB Group Bhd, MMAG Holdings Bhd and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd.  

Today, glove counters dominated the gainers' list on Bursa Malaysia. The list was led by Hartalega while Top Glove was the sixth biggest gainer.

The healthcare index climbed nearly 4% to close at 3,685.92.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd head of research Loui Low told theedgemarkets.com the buying momentum shown among the glove counters helped to push the KLCI higher today.

Notwithstanding the political uncertainties, he expects more upside for glove counters' shares price supported by high certainty on the industry earnings. This was regardless of current political noise

“Also, from technical viewpoints, the big four glove counters,  Hartalega, Top Glove, Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd and Supermax Corp Bhd...all these stocks have performed on flag-formation breakout, which indicates further upside going forward,” he added.