KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 23): Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session on a firm note, with the key index staying in positive territory as sentiment in the market recovered following rising hope for a Covid-19 vaccine.

At lunch break, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 8.64 points to 1,640.56 after moving between 1,627.53 and 1,644.5 throughout the session.

The overall market breadth was positive with gainers leading losers 688 to 382, while 709 counters were unchanged, 369 untraded and 38 others suspended.

Volume stood at 3.72 billion units worth RM1.82 billion.

Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca announced that the first deliveries of its Covid-19 vaccine, AZD1222, to Malaysia would likely be in the first half of 2021.

Country president Dr Sanjeev Panchal, in a statement, said the company would be providing 6.4 million doses of its vaccine at no profit.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank added one sen to RM8.41, Public Bank rose 16 sen to RM20.62, Tenaga bagged four sen to RM10.62, Petronas Chemicals and Top Glove gained two sen each to RM7.43 and RM6.71, respectively, and Hartalega earned 10 sen to RM12.70.

IHH Healthcare, however, was flat at RM5.65.

Among the actives, Techna-X perked 1.5 sen to 16 sen, Jiankun slipped 10.5 sen to 58 sen, AirAsia X inched up half-a-sen to 7.5 sen, while FGV increased 10 sen to RM1.28 following news of the unconditional mandatory takeover offer from the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda).

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 76.9 points higher at 11,786.36, the FBMT 100 Index improved 73.39 points to 11,555.1, the FBM Emas Shariah Index earned 69.34 points to 13,250.68, the FBM 70 climbed 144.45 points to 15,052.23, and the FBM ACE surged 208.02 points to 10,685.22. 

The Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.87 of-a-point to 173.36, the Plantation Index appreciated 62.35 points for 7,343.8 and the Financial Services Index bagged 111.34 points to 15,260.78.