KUALA LUMPUR: Fund buying of key banking stocks Maybank and Public Bank enabled the FBM KLCI to close on a firmer note on Friday after a volatile week while the ringgit managed to firm up a bit, thanks to the stronger export data in March.
At 5pm, the KLCI was up 4.27 points or 0.26% to 1,649.36. Turnover was 1.58 billion shares valued at RM1.82bil. There were 426 gainers, 346 losers and 367 counters unchanged.
March trade surplus rose 43% to RM11.19bil from RM7.82bil a year ago. It was up 52.2% to RM11.19bil from RM7.35bil in February. For the first quarter, the surplus was up 12.2% to RM23.94bil from the previous corresponding quarter.
The ringgit was traded at 4.0043 to the US dollar from 4.0078 the previous day, it was at 5.8064 to the pound sterling from 5.8113 and strengthened to 2.9475 to the Singapore dollar from 2.9535. Against the euro, it was at 4.5760 from 4.5841.
Reuters reported stock markets in Europe and Asia struggled on Friday and only monthly U.S. nonfarm payrolls numbers stood in the way of shares globally racking up their biggest falls since mid-February.
Concerns over growth, the failure of extraordinary central bank stimulus and banking profitability in an era of negative interest rates, allied to a still tepid recovery in oil prices , has kept a lid on any optimism over the past month, the report said.
Oil prices fell on Friday as investors cashed in on a 20% rise over the past month, outweighing the impact of crude production cuts in Canada where a huge wildfire has disrupted oil sands operations, Reuters said.
US light crude oil fell nine cents to US$44.23 and Brent was down 15 cents to US$44.86.
At Bursa Malaysia, Maybank rose 14 sen to RM8.67 and added 2.34 points to the KLCI while Public Bank rose 20 sen to RM18.96 and pushed the index up 1,33 points. Hong Leong Bank added six sen to RM13.36, AmBank three sen to RM4.52, CIMB and RHB Cap were flat at RM4.66 and RM5.90.
Maxis rose six sen to RM5.54 and nudged the KLCI uo 0.77 of a point, Digi added two sen to RM4.40, Telekom lost two sen to RM6.63 and Axiata one sen to RM5.49.
As for oil stocks, Petronas Gas fell 30 sen to RM21.60, Petronas Dagangan 16 sen to RM23.40 while Petronas Chemicals' 13 sen fall to RM6.41 wiped out 1.78 points. SK Petro dipped one sen to RM1.61.
Power giant Tenaga rose four sen to RM14.14, UMW fell three sen to RM6.31 and MISC she done sen to RM8.34.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery fell RM14 to RM2,615 per tonne. PPB Group gained six sen to RM15.70 , IOI Corp rose three sen to RM4.30, Sime was flat at RM7.61 while KL Kepong fell 12 sen to RM22.98.
Among the consumer stocks, BAT fell RM1.30 to RM47 but Nestle added 50 sen to RM75, Carlsberg 22 sen to RM12.64.
R&A Telecommunications was the most active with 57.9 million shares done, losing half its value or 0.5 sen to end the day at one sen ahead of the possible trading suspension.
AWC
fared better, gaining 4.5 sen to 67 sen after a positive report on its prospects.
AirAsia added nine sen to RM2.02, AAX two sen to 36 sen and AAX-WA 1.5 sen to 23 sen.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed down 0.25% to 16,106.72;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index lost 1.66% to 20,109.87;
CSI 300 skidded 2.6% to 3,130.35;
Shanghai’s Composite Index fell 2.82% to 2,913.25;
Shenzhen Composite tumbled 3.65% to 1,871.70;
Hang Seng China Enterprise lost 1.8% to 8,471.70;
Taiwan’s Taiex shed 0.26% to 8,146.43;
South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.49% to 1,976.71 and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 1.34% to 2,730.80.
Spot gold advanced US$3.05 to US$1,280.80.
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