KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 27): The main index at Bursa Malaysia held above the 1,500-point threshold at the midday break today against the backdrop of falling regional markets, as healthcare stocks riding the coronavirus fear propped up the local index.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was up 5.55 points to 1,500.16. The index had earlier in the morning dipped to a low of 1,489.98.

Gainers led losers by 395 to 238, while 671 counters traded unchanged. Trading volume was 2.64 billion shares valued at RM1.90 billion.

The top gainers included Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd, Hartalega Holdings Bhd, Supermax Corp Bhd, KESM Industries Bhd, Unisem (M) Bhd, Scientex Bhd, Top Glove Corp Bhd, Pharmaniaga Bhd, Time dotCom Bhd and Comfort Gloves Bhd.

The actively traded stocks included newly-listed Econframe Bhd, Vortex Consolidated Bhd, Mah Sing Group Bhd, Kanger International Bhd, Luster Industries Bhd, Iris Corp Bhd, Mr DIY Group (M) Bhd and Vivocom International Holdings Bhd.

The decliners included Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd, Nestle (M) Bhd, Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd, JF Technology Bhd, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, United Plantations Bhd, PPB Group Bhd, Petronas Gas Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd and Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd.

Reuters said Asian stock markets fell on Tuesday as soaring global coronavirus cases and slow progress on a US stimulus deal hammered investor sentiment and took a toll on Wall Street.

MSCI's gauge of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan was down 0.43%, with Australia's ASX 200 off 1.1% to an almost three-week low, it said.

Hong Leong IB Research said following the Agong’s rejection of emergency ruling in Malaysia, and the Umno supreme council's decision to continue to support the Perikatan Nasional government, KLCI may stage a mild rebound today with upside capped near 1,507 (uptrend line support from 1,474) and 1,521 (23.6% FR) while supports are pegged at 1,482-1,474-1,461 levels.

Nevertheless, it said the benchmark index is likely to be stuck in a tug-of-war between the bulls and bears ahead of the US presidential election (Nov 3) and the Budget 2021 presentation (Nov 6) coupled with an exponential surge of coronavirus cases worldwide as the winter season begins in the Northern Hemisphere.

“In Malaysia, the conditional movement control order extensions in Selangor, KL & Putrajaya for another two weeks till Nov 9, 2020 amid spiking Covid-19 local transmissions and clusters underline risks to 2H20 economic and corporate earnings recovery.

“Stocks-wise, we believe technology and healthcare-related stocks are deemed to benefit from a prolonged virus pandemic,” it said.