KUALA LUMPUR: Confidence returned to the stock market on Tuesday, snapping a recent string of declines, as firmer crude oil prices and firmer ringgit enabled investors to try and look past the MSCI review of its weightage for Malaysian equities.
Mild bargain hunting saw the FBM KLCI ending Tuesday up 12.18 points or 0.75% to 1,633.39. Turnover was 1.70 billion shares valued at RM1.72bil. There were 479 gainers, 341 losers and 335 counters unchanged.
A technical chartist said the KLCI should be able to hold on the current levels. At 1,633.39, the KLCI is down 3.49% year-to-date and is trading at price-to-earnings of 18.1 times. Its 52-week high was 1,823.50 on May 18, 2015 – down 190.11 points or 10.4%.
Oil earlier traded at around US$49 a barrel on Tuesday within sight of a six-month high, supported by supply outages in Nigeria, Canada and other producers that are eroding a persistent glut, Reuters reported.
However, by 5pm, Malaysia time US light crude oil was flat at US$47.72 while Brent lost 33 cents to US$48.64.
The ringgit firmed up against the US dollar, Singapore unit and Euro but weakened against the pound sterling. It advanced to 4.0200 to the greenback from 4.0273 the previous day and rose to 2.9396 against the Singapore dollar and firmed up to 4.5524 to the Euro from 4.5594. However, it weakened against the pound to 5.8159 from 5.7828.
Petronas-linked stocks were among the top performers after the recent sell-down. Petronas Chemicals rose 19 sen to RM6.41 and added 2.57 points to the KLCI. Petronas Dagangan added 56 sen to RM23.28 and Petronas Gas 54 sen to RM21.65. SK Petro three sen higher at RM1.61.
Genting Bhd
rose 24 sen to RM8.80 and nudged the KLCI up 1.52 points, MISC gained seven sen to RM7.51, Genting Malaysia edged up one sen to RM4.36 and Tenaga was flat at RM14. UMW lost 13 sen to RM5.77.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery rose RM17 to RM2,604 per tonne. United Plantations, which is not part of the KLCI, was the top gainer, up 78 sen to RM27.08 while Batu Kawan gained 48 sen to RM18.10.
PPB rose 22 sen to RM16, Sime Darby 14 sen to RM7.40, IOI Corp six sen to RM4.18 but KL Kepon fell 10 sen to RM23.
As for banks, Hong Leong Bank gained 14 sen to RM13.44, Public Bank 16 sen to RM19.16, Maybank eight sen to RM8.53 and CIMB two sen to RM4.32 but AmBank fell six sen to RM4.41 and RHB Cap two sen to RM5.88.
Consumer stocks were among the top gainers again. Nestle advanced 72 sen to RM74.52, Ajinomoto 60 sen to RM12.10, Dutch Lady 60 sen to RM55.80 but Heineken lost 20 sen to RM14.60.
Of course, attracting heavy interest were AirAsia and AirAsia X. AirAsia rose 10 sen to RM2.32, AAX 1.5 sen to 41 sen and the warrants four sen to 33.5 sen.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.13% to 16,552.80;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 1.18% to 20,118.80;
CSI 300 slipped 0.3% to 3,086.02;
Shanghai’s Composite Index fell 0.25% to 2,843.68;
Shenzhen Composite shed 0.02% to 1,814.68;
Hang Seng China Enterprise rose 1.36% to 8,425.78;
Taiwan’s Taiex added 0.9% to 8,140.48;
South Korea’s Kospi inched up 0.01% to 1,968.06;
Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 1.71% to 2,782.81.
Spot gold fell US$2.70 to US$1,271.46.
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