KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips edged higher at midday on Wednesday, underpinned by gains in Public Bank, Petronas Gas and MISC while the broader market was mixed as the continued foreign selling kept investors cautious.
At 12.30pm, the KLCI was up 3.58 points or 0.22% to 1,639.42. Turnover was 883 million shares valued at RM750.90mil. There were 333 gainers, 310 losers and 378 counters unchanged.
The ringgit weakened against most currencies except the Singapore dollar. It fell to 4.0540 to the US dollar from 4.0468 the previous day and it weakened to 5.8570 to the pound sterling from 5.8453 while it slipped to 4.6137 to the euro from 4.6113. It edged up to 2.9569 to the Singapore dollar from 2.9594.
Reuters reported Asian shares gave up early gains and turned lower on Wednesday as investors shrugged off an overnight rally in global stocks and looked to bonds in the absence of signs of a sustainable recovery in China and other emerging markets.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.2 percent after being up as much as 0.4 percent in early trades. On Tuesday, it hit an eight-week low.
At Bursa Malaysia, RHB Cap was the top gainer among the banks, adding 13 sen to RM5.97, Public Bank rose 10 sen to RM19.08, Maybank two sen to RM8.82, Hong Leong Bank four sen to RM13.38 but CIMB shed one sen to RM4.68. Insurer LPI added 12 sen to RM15.50.
US light crude oil fell 24 cents to US$44.42 while Brent crude was down 20 sen to US$45.32. Petronas Gas rose 14 sen to RM21.44, Petronas Chemicals fell two sen toRM6.40, and Petronas Dagangan slipped 14 sen to RM22.72. SK Petro edged up one sen to RM1.59.
Crude palm oil futures for third month rose RM44 to RM2,705 per tonne. Plantation and timber player Ta Ann added 11 sen to RM4.58, KL Kepong rose two sen to RM22.98, IOI Corp lost one sen to RM4.17, PPB Group 24 sen to RM15.36.
MSC rose 13 sen to RM2.90 after reporting a turnaround in its financial results in the first quarter.
The weaker ringgit saw Karex climbing 11 sen to RM2.38 as it made its exports cheaper.
Among the telcos, Maxis and Digi rose one sen each to RM5.50 and RM4.39 while Axiata was flat and Telekom she done sen to RM6.57.
Tenaga Nasional rose two sen to RM13.96, regaining some lost ground. MISC rose six sen to RM7.66.
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