Heavyweight stock IHH Healthcare Bhd is leading a rally in healthcare-related counters following an increase in COVID-19 cases domestically and in China.
At the lunch break, Bursa Malaysia’s healthcare index rallied 1.8 percent to 1,681.58, boosted by IHH, which rose six sen to RM5.98, while Top Glove rose 2.5 sen to 80 sen, and Hartalega added four sen to RM2.12.
Careplus jumped 2.5 sen to 47 sen and Supermax was 1.5 sen higher at 94 sen, according to Bernama.
New daily COVID-19 cases in Malaysia for the six-day period from October 22 to October 27 saw a 12 percent increase to 13,050 with the highest number of cases recorded yesterday at 2,762.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said a slight increase in the number of COVID-19 cases was expected in the next few weeks following the identification of a small wave of infections linked to the Omicron XBB sub-variant in the country.
It was also reported that China posted a third straight day of more than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases nationwide, forcing the country to launch more curbs and restrictions in cities from Wuhan in central China to Xining in the northwest.
A week ago, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said COVID-19 remains a global emergency.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the virus has continued to change and that many risks and uncertainties remain.
According to Worldometer, total COVID-19 cases globally stood at 634,610,831 cases from 632,438,082 cases in the previous week with 6,589,402 deaths.
