KUALA LUMPUR: Key Asian markets including Bursa Malaysia ended Friday on a firmer note as worries of Britain's exit from the EU (Brexit) abated temporarily while crude oil prices snapped out of their recent losses.
At 5pm, the KLCI was up 9.28 points or 0.57% to 1,624.18, boosted by gained in Hong Leong Bank, Maybank and MISC, but year-to-date, the index is down 4.04%.
However, volume fell sharply to only 1.12 billion shares from 1.57 billion shares on Thursday. The value of shares done was RM1.42bil. The broader market was mixed with 357 gainers, 331 losers and 388 counters unchanged.
Reuters reported European shares, oil and bond yields rose on Friday after a tumultuous week and as campaigning for Britain's EU membership vote next week was suspended after the killing of a pro-"Remain" politician Jo Cox.
The ringgit weakened 0.93% to the pound sterling to 5.8632 from the previous close of 5.8090. It fell to 4.1007 to the US dollar from 4.1000 and slipped against the Singapore dollar at 3.0372 from 3.0349. However, it firmed up against the euro to 4.6163 from 4.6170.
Crude oil prices rose for the first time in seven days, but trading remains volatile less than a week before Britain goes to the polls over the country's EU membership, Reuters reported. US light crude oil rose 54 cents to US$46.75 and Brent advanced 76 cents to US$47.95.
Hong Leong Bank rose 44 sen to RM13.36 and pushed the KLCI up 1.63 points, AmBank nine sen to RM4.36, Maybank gained six sen to RM8.09, CIMB four sen to RM4.24 and Public Bank was flat at RM19.14. HLFG fell 24 sen to RM14.20.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery rebounded to climb RM29 to RM2,444 per tonne. United Plantations rose 78 sen to RM27.28, PPB Group 30 sen to RM16.28, KL Kepong 16 sen up to RM23.16 and IOI Corp one sen to RM4.31.
LNG shipper MISC rose 20 sen to RM7.45, Petronas Chemicals and Petronas Gas four sen each to RM6.35 and RM21.44 but Petronas Dagangan lost 12 sen to RM23.32. SapuraKencana lost two sen to RM1.41.
UMW rose 32 sen to RM5.53, Litrak 26 sen to RM5.86 while MSM gained 22 sen to RM5.02.
Among consumer stocks, BAT gained 64 sen to RM50.33 and Nestle 22 sen to RM76.88 while
AirAsia fell one sen to RM2.55 but AirAsia X
edged up one sen to 36.5 sen.
As for telcos, Digi rose five sen to RM4.65, Telekom three sen to RM6.75, Axiata gained two sen to RM5.52, Maxis edged up one sen to RM5.68
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225rose 1.07% to 15,599.66;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.66% to 20,169.98;
CSI 300 added 0.51% to 3,110.36;
Shanghai’s Composite Index rose 0.43% to 2,885.10;
Shenzhen Composite gained 0.81% 1,900.74;
Hang Seng China Enterprise added 0.9% to 8,485.87;
Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.87% to 8,568.08;
South Korea’s Kospi inched up 0.07% to 1,953.40 and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained 0.26% to 2,758.66.
Spot gold added US$6.31 to US$1,284.74.
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