KUALA LUMPUR: Maybank and RHB Bank led blue chips higher early Thursday as investor sentiment perked up in line with key Asian markets while crude oil prices climbed.
At 9.20am, the FBM KLCI was up 3.97 points or 0.24% to 1,646.18. Turnover was 146.14 million shares valued at RM63.88mil. There were 172 gainers, 107 losers and 173 counters unchanged.
Asia stocks rose on Thursday, tracking an overnight rally on Wall Street, Reuters reported. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.4%, pulling further away from a one-month low on Friday when it plunged more than 3% in reaction to Britain's decision to leave the European Union.
The US dollar took a breather in Asia on Thursday but remained near a 3-1/2-month high against a basket of currencies hit in the wake of Britain's stunning vote to exit from the European Union, while recently battered sterling crawled higher. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, edged down 0.1% to 95.642, on track for a monthly loss of 0.2%.
US crude oil futures settled up US$2.03, higher at US$49.88, while Brent crude rose US$2.03 at US$50.61 per barrel.
At Bursa, foreign funds were net buyers on Wednesday at +RM14.14mil while local institutions and local retail investors were net sellers at –RM2.47mil and –RM11.67mil.
Maybank and RHB Bank rose seven sen each to RM8.19 and RM5.15.
SCGM added eight sen to RM3.50 and Enra seven sen to RM2.05.
SK Petro and Bumi Armada
rose one sen each to RM1.46 and 72.5 sen while KNM gained 0.5 sen to 42 sen.
MPI was the top loser, down 38 sen to RM7.37 while Petronas Dagangan lost 14 sen to RM23.22 and Scientex 12 sen to RM12.78. QL Resources was doqn 10 sen to RM4.35 and Ta Ann nine sen lower at RM3.36.
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