KUALA LUMPUR: Tenaga Nasional, Maybank and Public Bank shored up the FBM KLCI by nearly four points in line with the firmer key regional markets, except Japan, but the overall breadth of the market was cautious.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI was up 3.61 points or 0.2% to 1,842.17. Turnover was 1.73 billion shares valued at RM1.47bil. However, decliners beat advancers 452 to 321 while 314 counters were unchanged.
Tenaga rose 16 sen to RM14.52 and pushed the KLCI up 1.58 points. Banks were also in favour among investors, with Public Bank adding 16 sen to RM18.60 and pushing up the KLCI by 1.08 points.
Maybank, which is due to announce its results after market close, added eight sen to RM9.67. It added eight sen to RM9.67 and pushed the KLCI up 1.30 points. Hong Leong Bank rose 10 sen to RM14.60 and RHB Cap seven sen to RM8.18.
Among the consumer stocks, BAT charged ahead, rising RM1.86 to RM71.52 and boosting the KLCI by nearly one point. F&N rose 28 sen to RM16.68 – posting the best gains in recent weeks. Carlsberg added 24 sen to RM11.56. However, Dutch Lady
lost 50 sen to RM45.40.
MUI rose 2.5 sen to 25.5 sen in active trade on investors’ positive outlook about the proposed assets disposal to unlock their value.
TM was among the top losers, sliding 26 sen to RM7.24 on weaker earnings due to higher operating expenses.
Lafarge lost 20 sen to RM9.80, Faber 17 sen to RM2.53 and Berjaya Auto 16 sen to RM3.20.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI was down points or % to. Turnover was million shares valued at. There were gainers, losers and stocks unchanged.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery rose RM13 to US$2,230. SOP fell 49 sen to RM5.91, IOI Corp three sen to RM4.65 and FGV one sen lower at RM3.50.
Reuters reported Brent steadied around US$78.20 a barrel on Wednesday, after a remark by Saudi Arabia's oil minister that the oil market would stabilize helped to lift the benchmark off early lows.
US light crude oil fell 29 cents to US$73.80 and Brent fell 26 cents to RM78.07.
SKPetro lost three sen to RM3.23, Petronas Gas eight sen to RM22.48, Petronas Dagangan six sen lower at RM16.88 and Petronas Chemicals five sen to RM5.73.
The ringgit weakened to 3.3527 against the US dollar from 3.3525.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.14% to 17,383.58;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.12% to 24,111.98;
Shanghai’s Composite Index rose 1.43% to 2,604.35;
Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.07% 9,122.39;
South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.03% to 1,980.84 and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.14% to 3,349.66.
Spot gold fell US$2.46 to US$1,198.52.
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