KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s blue chips managed to eke out some gains on Thursday, on fund buying of key stocks like Axiata, Public Bank and Tenaga, but the broader market was weaker while the ringgit slipped against the major currencies.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI was up 2.95 points or 0.17% to 1,692.20 but off the intra-day low of 1,681.78. Turnover was 2.29 billion shares valued at RM2.66bil. Decliners beat advancers 520 to 339 while 302 counters were unchanged.
The ringgit gave up some of Wednesday’s gains against the US dollar, pound sterling and Singapore dollar. It was at 4.2358 to the US dollar from 4.2253 the previous day, it was at 6.4922 to the pound from 6.4521 while against the Singapore unit, it managed to stay below the key 3.0 level at 2.9969 from 2.9889.
Reuters reported global stocks traded just off three-week highs on Thursday after unexpectedly weak trade and machinery orders data from Germany and Japan hinted at a stalling in the momentum of some of the world's biggest economies.
An oil price bounce, a flat dollar and gains in Chinese markets provided some support, but with worries growing over Germany and the U.S. Federal Reserve due to release minutes of its last meeting, investors were wary of extending world shares' six-day rally any further.
At Bursa Malaysia, Axiata was up 21 sen to RM6.21 as it pushed the KLCI up 3.14 points. TM edged up one sen ro RM6.88. DiGi was flat at RM5.70 while Maxis shed two sen to RM6.81.
Public Bank was the top gainer among the banks, adding 12 sen to RM18.38 and giving the KLCI a 0.8 point boost. Hong Leong Bank gained six sen to RM13.58, CIMB rose two sen to RM4.92 but AmBank fell one sen to RM4.76.
There was a pullback on RHB Cap and it skidded 17 sen to RM6.13.
UMW was the top gainer, up 38 sen to RM8.11 while Tenaga added eight sen to RM12.28, Genting Malaysia six sen to RM4.48 but Genting Bhd
shed one sen to RM7.67.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery fell RM39 to RM2,280 per tonne. Genting Plantations lost 60 sen to RM10.30, PPB Group was down 36 sen to RM15.44 and IJM Plantations 16 sen lower at RM3.30 while KL Kepong was down six sen to RM22.38 and Sime Darby four sen to RM8.76. IOI Corp rose four sen to RM4.34 and
US light crude oil eked out a gain of 21 cents to US$48.02 and Brent climbed 27 cents to US$51.60.
Reuters reported the oil prices were nudged higher by a weaker dollar, while investors temporarily overlooked an unexpectedly large rise in U.S. inventory levels that could quickly push the market back below US$50 a barrel, analysts said.
US crude stocks rose by 3.1 million barrels to 461 million last week as refineries reduced production and idled capacity. Analysts had expected an increase of 2.2 million barrels.
SK Petro rose six sen to RM2.13and Petronas Chemicals two sen to RM6.40 while Petronas Dagangan was flat at RM23.12 while Petronas Gas shed two sen to RM22.60.
KNM was the most active but shed two sen to 53.5 sen after Wednesday’s rally. Perisai lost two sen to 36.5 sen and Bumi Armada was down 5.5sen to 98.5 sen.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.99% to 18,141.17;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.71% to 22,354.91;
CSI 300 rose 2.92% to 3,296.48;
Shanghai’s Composite Index advanced 2.97% to 3,143.36;
Shenzen Composite jumped 4% to 1,785.39;
Hang Seng China Enterprise fell 1.03% 10,287.41;
Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.58% 8,445.96;
South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.68% to 2,019.53 and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.44% to 2,948.80.
Spot gold fell US$1.60 to US$1,143.94.
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