KLCI rebounds on gains by Digi, Axiata, Sime

KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips closed near the day's high on Thursday, underpinned by fund buying of Digi.com Bhd, Axiata Bhd and Sime Darby Bhd, as investor sentiment was galvanised by the firm key markets and sustained gains in crude oil prices.

At 5pm, the KLCI was up 10.93 points or 0.66% to 1,669.66. Turnover was 2.11 billion shares valued at RM2.23bil. Advancers beat decliners 529 to 313 while 361 counters were unchanged.

World shares and bonds rallied on Thursday, after the Federal Reserve left US interest rates unchanged and slowed the pace of future hikes, weakening the dollar and lifting commodity prices, Reuters reported.

European markets followed Wall Street and Asia's lead with Britain's FTSE 100 climbing 0.6% and Germany's AX and France's CAC 40 both rising a full 1%.

The ringgit advanced against the US dollar to 4.1095 from 4.1418 the previous day and rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.0346 from3.0362 but slipped against the pound sterling to 5.3763 from 5.3611 and weakened against the Euro to 4.6187 from 4.6070.

Among the telcos, Digi climbed 18 sen to RM 5.04 and lifted the KLCI by 2.38 points while Axiata added 11 sen to RM5.41 and nudged the index up by 1.67 points. Telekom rose 10 sen to RM6.80 and Maxis seven sen higher at RM6.20.

BAT was the top gainer, up RM1.20 to the RM50 market in relatively active trade. However, Dutch Lady fell 80 sen to RM58.80 while Heineken and Nestle lost eight sen each to RM17.60 and RM79.44.

Crude palm oil for third-month delivery rose RM35 to RM2,712 per tonne following the decline in output. Genting Plantations rose 16 sen to RM10.98 while FGV saw heavy trading, rising nine sen to RM2.50 while its call warrants, C15 added 2.5 sen to 35 sen and C16 gained two sen to 25 sen.

Sime Darby rose 14 sen to RM7.89, PPB Group 10 sen higher at RM16.26, IOI Corp five sen to RM4.46 while KL Kepong added four sen to RM23.84.

Bloomberg quoted Thomas Mielke, executive director at Oil World, that global soybean meal prices too high and needs to decline to generate demand. He was also quoted saying total palm oil supply seen shrinking despite rebound in output in 4Q.

Among the banks, Public Bank added eight sen to RM19.58, RHB Bank five sen to RM4.79, Maybank rose four sen to RM7.80 and CIMB two sen to RM4.70.

As for the heavyweights, Tenaga was flat at RM14.40 while Genting Bhd added seven sen to RM8.12 but Genting Malaysia saw volatile trade to lost 13 sen to RM4.57. IHH Healthcare lost 12 sen and erased 1.68 points from the KLCI.

Crude oil prices held to their gains, with US light crude up 41 cents to US$45.75 and Brent gained 35 cents to US$47.18. Petronas Gas added 14 sen to RM21.70, Petronas Chemicals rose eight sen to RM6.74, Petronas Dagangan was flat at RM23.34 while SK Petro inched up one sen to RM1.56.