KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips got off on a cautious start early Friday but sentiment firmed up on fund buying of Petronas Gas, Tenaga and RHB Capital.
At 9.43am, the FBM KLCI was up 2.87 points or 0.17% to 1,726.65. Turnover was 309.24 million shares valued at RM124.72mil. There were 171 gainers, 189 losers and 241 counters unchanged.
Maybank Investment Bank Research recommended a “nibble on dips” strategy for Friday. It said the April 2016 Futures was at a larger 5.28-point discount against the FBMKLCI.
“We believe supports of 1,709 to 1,723 may be areas to buy, while heavy liquidation activities may cap rebounds at the resistances of 1,726 and 1,740,” it added.
Asian stocks were off to a subdued start on Friday as caution towards a weekend meeting of oil producers tempered risk sentiment, while the dollar's advance slowed in wake of soft US inflation data, Reuters reported.
Japan's Nikkei shed 0.5%, while Australian shared edged up 0.2%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan stood flat.
US crude oil dipped four cents to US$41.46 a barrel, moving further away from a 4-1/2-month peak above US$42 reached mid-week when market hopes were higher that the Doha producers' meeting would result in tighter supply, the wire report said.
At Bursa Malaysia, plantations were the top gainer in thin trade, with KL Kepong up 30 sen to RM24.18 with 2,200 shares done while PPB Group added 16 sen to RM16.50.
Consumer stocks BAT added 28 sen to RM55.34 and Carlsberg was up 10 sen to RM13.88.
Petronas Gas added 10 sen to RM22.20, Tenaga and RHB Cap eight higher to RM14.48 and RM6.18 in active trade.
However, Genting Bhd
fell eight sen to RM9.22 and MISC six sen to RM8.93 while Hap Seng lost five sen to RM7.60.
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