Vaccines news rekindles buying interest in pharmaceutical counters

At 10.13 am, Pharmaniaga Bhd saw its share rose seven sen to RM4.93 with 517,000 shares traded, while Duopharma Biotech Bhd’s share perked one sen to RM3.49 with 651,200 shares changing hands.

Ho Wah Genting Bhd also increased 2.5 sen to 70.5 sen with 10.21 million shares traded.

However, the vaccine-induced euphoria did not bode well for rubber glove counters.

At 10.13 am, Top Glove Corporation Bhd suffered heavy selling pressure with its share falling 19 sen to RM5.86, with 6.61 million shares transacted.

Similarly, Supermax Corporation Bhd lost 24 sen to RM5.56, with 5.13 million shares traded, while Hartalega Holdings Bhd was four sen lower at RM12.02, with 672,300 shares changing hands.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd believes sentiments will be boosted by news of the COVID-19 vaccine availability.

But performance may be negated as glove counters could see continued selling as a result, it said in a note today.

With the first batch of 312,390 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arriving in the country on Sunday, Malaysia has now joined the global community in a more intense fight against coronavirus.