KUALA LUMPUR (July 18): Shares in British American Tobacco (Malaysia) Bhd (BAT) hit the lowest since November 2020 amid anticipation of tabling of the proposed law to ban smoking and possession of tobacco products for people born after 2005 in the country.

Parliament resumed its session on Monday (July 18) after Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said last week that the Bill would go before Parliament for debate in the current session. 

He also revealed that the Cabinet had approved the Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill on July 13. 

Notably, the current Parliament session will last for 12 days, beginning from Monday to Aug 4. 

Meanwhile, shares in BAT opened six sen or 0.56% lower at RM10.58 at the opening bell, before it plunged further to hit a low of RM10.30.

At the time of writing, shares in BAT traded 32 sen or 3.01% lower at RM10.32, giving it a market capitalisation of RM2.95 billion. 

The stock emerged as one of the top losers on the local bourse , with a total of 1.5 million shares traded so far in the day.

Year to date, the counter had fallen by 25.75%. 

The proposed Tobacco and Smoking Control law contains clauses to prohibit the sale of cigarettes, tobacco and vape products to anyone born after 2005.

Traders and cigarette vendors will not be allowed to sell smoking products to people covered by the ban.

The health minister previously said the proposed generational smoking ban is the next step towards reducing cancer cases and improving cancer treatment access in the country.