KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s blue chips held on to their gains to close near 1,840 on Tuesday, underpinned by fund buying of DiGi, Petronas Gas and Petronas Chemicals but the broader market was mixed on profit taking.
At the close, the FBM KLCI was up 4.79 points or 0.26% to 1,838.56. Turnover was 2.09 billion shares valued at RM2.46bil. Decliners beat advancer5s 476 to 308 while 305 counters were unchanged.
Key regional markers closed mostly higher except for Taiwan and Hong Kong on extended buying as investors hoped for more support from the central banks.
Reuters reported European shares were at a two-month high and the region's bond yields at record lows on Tuesday, as oil prices hovered at just under US$80 a barrel ahead of an OPEC meeting this week.
At Bursa Malaysia, DiGi pushed the KLCI up by 2.72 points when it closed 20 sen higher at RM6.39. TM added 12 sen to RM7.50, Maxis four sen to RM7.14 while Axiata was flat at RM7.19.
Tenaga, which had rallied in recent days, gave up 10 sen to RM14.36. Genting Bhd
fell 41 sen to RM9.09 on profit taking after the previous day’s gains while Genting Malaysia was down seven sen to RM4.12.
US light crude oil rose 20 cents to US$75.98 and Brent 21 cents higher at US$79.89.
Petronas Gas gained 74 sen to RM22.56, Petronas Chemicals 12 sen to RM5.78 and SKPetro two sen higher at RM3.26 but Petronas Dagangan fell 50 sen to RM16.94.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery rebounded from the early losses to climb RM13 to RM2,218 per tonne. SOP added 51 sen to RM6.40 and Genting Plantations 24 sen to RM10.84 while Genting Plantations-WA gained 19 sen to RM2.65.
FGV rose nine sen to RM3.51 but KLK and PBB Group lost 10 sen each to RM22.56 and RM15.50 while IOI Corp shed three sen to RM4.68.
BAT jumped RM1.86 to RM69.66, Star 20 sen to RM2.49 and TimeCom 19 sen to RM5.25.
Among the banks, Hong Leong Bank was the top gainer, rising 18 sen to RM14.50 after reporting a set of firmer first quarter results. Public Bank rose 14 sen to RM18.44 and Maybank seven sen to RM9.59 but HLFG lost 22 sen to RM18.12, RHB Cap 13 sen to RM8.11 and CIMB four sen to RM5.80.
The ringgit weakened against the US dollar to 3.3525 from 3.3520.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.29% to 17,407.62;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.21% to 23,843.91;
Shanghai’s Composite Index rose 1.37% to 2,567.60;
Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.07% to 9,116.24;
South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.08% to 1,980.21 and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 0.13% to 3,344.99.
Spot gold rose US$3.41 to US$1,200.54.
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