KUALA LUMPUR: Petronas Chemicals and Tenaga Nasional underpinned the FBM KLCI's recovery at midday at Thursday, extending its gains from the previous day though the broader market was mixed and crude oil prices slipped.
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was up 3.31 points or 0.18% to 1,633.61. Turnover was 993.37 million shares valued at RM502.60mil. There were 271 gainers, 330 losers and 336 counters unchanged.
The ringgit slipped against the US dollar to 4.4843 from 4.4835 while the one-month non-deliverable forward was at 4.5050. It also weakened against the Singapore dollar to 3.0940 from 3.0903.
It climbed against the pound sterling to 5.4950 from 5.4954 and was at 4.6886 against the Euro from the previous day's close of 4.6816.
Reuters reported China stocks reversed early losses and edged higher on Thursday morning amid signs of easing liquidity stress. The CSI300 index rose 0.2% to 3,309.78 and the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.2% to 3,109.14.
The Hang Seng index dropped 0.1% to 21,733.26, while the Hong Kong China Enterprises Index lost 0.3% to 9,275.77.
At Bursa Malaysia, Foundpac
was among the top gainers on its listing debut on the Main Market, up a strong 13.5 sen to 67.5 sen with nearly 41 million shares done.
US oil prices fell on Thursday after an industry report showed a surprise build in the country's crude inventories, while Brent futures came off early lows to trade marginally higher, Reuters reported. US light crude futures fell 24 cents to $53.82 and Brent shed two cents to US$56.20.
Petronas Chemicals rose six sen to RM6.93 and nudged the KLCI up 0.78 of a point while Petronas Gas rose two sen to RM21.30 and Petronas Dagangan was flat at RM23.50.
Sumatec was up one sen to 7.5 sen and it was the most active with 112 million shares done while KNM added 1.5 sen to 35.5 sen.
Tenaga rose eight sen to RM13.68 and pushed the KLCI up 0.74 of a point. IJM Corp gained eight sen to RM3.27.
Among the banks, Hong Leong Bank was the top gainer, up 18 sen to RM13.26, Public Bank added two sen to RM19.70, Maybank added one sen to RM7.96 while CIMB was flat at RM4.56.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery shed RM2 to US$3,106 per tonne. IOI Corp rose six sen to RM4.41, KL Kepong added four sen to RM23.72 and PPB Group two sen higher at RM15.90. Sime Darby added four sen to RM8.12.
Among the consumer stocks, F&N regained traction and added 44 sen to RM23.30 but Nestle fell RM1.02 to RM77.48 and BAT was down 42 sen to RM42.98.
As for telcos, Maxis fell the most, down eight sen to RM6.02 and Axiata shed four sen to RM4.58 but Digi rose two sen to RM4.96 and Telekom five sen hiugher at RM6.08.
Spot gold added US$7.62 to US$1,149.29.
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