KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 16): Avillion Bhd's share trade volume spiked above 500 million units at Bursa Malaysia’s afternoon break today while the hotel operator's share price pared gains after rising over 90% possibly on positive sentiment from Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin's recent announcement on the relaxation of some Covid-19 pandemic-driven movement restrictions for fully vaccinated people in states that have moved into Phase 2 of Malaysia's National Recovery Plan (NRP) and beyond.

At 12:30pm today, Bursa’s most-active stock Avillion saw some 535 million shares traded compared to 62.79 million units on Friday (Aug 13).

Today, Avillion’s share price settled up 1.5 sen or 7.89% at 20.5 sen at 12:30pm after rising as much as 17.5 sen or 92.11% to 36.5 sen and falling to its intraday low at 18.5 sen so far today.

At 20.5 sen, Avillion, which also develops properties, has a market value of about RM194.03 million based on the company’s 946.49 million issued shares.

It was reported on Aug 8, 2021 that states in Phase 2 of the NPR are Penang, Perak, Pahang, Terengganu, Kelantan and Sabah. Meanwhile, Perlis, Labuan and Sarawak are already in Phase 3, according to news reports.

Labuan is a federal territory.

News reports, quoting Muhyiddin, said Malaysia will relax some Covid-19-driven movement restrictions for fully vaccinated people in the eight states that have met criteria, such as reduced case numbers and higher vaccination rates.

The measures, which allow dining in at restaurants, outdoor individual sports and interstate tourism, took effect last Tuesday (Aug 10), Muhyiddin was quoted as saying in a televised address on Aug 8.

Today, Avillion's share price has been closely watched against the broader market as analysts evaluated the performance of Malaysian stocks against factors including the country’s political uncertainties and Covid-19 situation.

Investors are following closely Malaysia’s political news amid speculation about Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s resignation.

During Bursa’s 12:30pm break today, the 30-stock FBM KLCI settled down 8.45 points or 0.56% at 1,496.66.

Worst-hit among Bursa’s 30 gauges was the Health Care index after the gauge fell 1.73%.