Kuala Lumpur stock exchange’s key index surged a massive 17.79-point to surpass the 1630-point threshold, resting at 1,631.49 points,
Throughout the half-day session, the key index shot to the high of 1,632.63 points, which reflected a leap of 18.93 points from Thursday’s close at 1,613.70 points.
This morning, the benchmark index opened 3.86 points higher. As at 9:04am, the index rose 7.97 points to 1,621.67 points. In late morning, as at 10:03am, KLCI advanced 12.80 points to reach 1,626.50 points. The index continued to surge towards midday to conclude the half-day session with a nearly 18-point increase at 1,631.49 points.
The Construction Index recorded the highest surge of 1.67% to 306.45 points, followed by the Health Care Index which gained 1.28% to 2361.95 points and the Property Index which rallied 0.82% to 1,107.13 points.
The Utilities Index added 0.81% to 1,797.40 points partially attributable to the rally of Tenaga Nasional Bhd.
Tenaga as expected was the most electrified counter following the approval of electricity rate hike during RP4 (2025-2027) where the current tariff of 39.95 sen per kilowatt hour (kWh) will be increased by 14.2% to 45.62 sen per kWh from 1 July 2025. In earlier session, Tenaga at one point surged as much as 86 sen, or 6.06%, to RM15.04. At midday, Tenaga retreated slightly by four sen but still managed to add 82 sen, or 5.78%, to reach RM15.00 on a turnover of 12,513,200 shares/units.
Glovemaker Supermax Corporation Bhd added two sen, or 1.63%, to RM1.25 on a volume of 16,688,300 shares/units while Top Glove Corporation Bhd increased four sen, or 3.03%, to RM1.36 on a turnover of 10,698,500 shares/units. Healthcare facility operator KPJ Healthcare Bhd rose five sen, or 2.16%, to RM2.37 on a turnover of 2,570,600 shares/units whereas IHH Healthcare Bhd gained four sen, or 0.56%, to RM7.24 on a volume of 893,600 shares/units. Medical device manufacturer Careplus Group Bhd rose half of a sen, or 1.96% to RM0.26 on a turnover of 7,230,500 shares/units.
Construction listing Gamuda Bhd at midday added nine sen, or 1.95%, to RM4.71, recording a turnover of 9,981,500 shares/units. Main board’s property listing Sime Darby Property Bhd climbed five sen, or 3.21%, to RM1.61 on a turnover of 9,454,000 shares/units.
ACE market new listing Vanzo Holdings Bhd, which debuted on Dec 17, was the most actively traded counter at midday, recording nearly 50 million shares/units (49,663,800 as at 12:30pm) in trading volume as its stock price stood at RM0.205 unchanged from yesterday’s close. The auto and household fragrance producer and distributor has risen 5.5 sen, or 36.67%, from its listing price of RM0.15.
United Plantations was a midday gainer which climbed 68 sen to RM31.28, while the exchange company Bursa Malaysia Bhd increased 16 sen to RM8.90.
On the decliners’ side, consumer listing Hong Leong Industries Bhd was the top decliner at midday, shedding 22 sen to RM14.22 on just 89 lots (1 lot=100 shares), followed by industrial listing Scientex Bhd which gave up 14 sen to RM4.43 on a volume of 258,700 shares/units.
Cocoa grinder Guan Chong Bhd, slipped eight sen to RM3.76 after recording a turnover of 1,662,800 shares/units.
At midday, gainers led decliners by 506 to 412, while 508 counters were unchanged and 996 untraded.
The half-day exchange-wide volume amounted to nearly 1.72 billion (1,716,201,500) shares/units valued at about RM1.16 billion (RM1,159,197,452).
