KLCI climbs early Tuesday as Maxis, PetChem lead

KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips advanced early Tuesday with Maxis and Petronas Chemicals taking the lead with analysts expecting a pre-Chinese New Year rally.

At 9.40am, the KLCI was up 3.08 points or 0.18% to 1,674.39. Turnover was 257.52 million shares valued at RM113.01mil. There were 181 gainers, 154 losers and 260 counters unchanged.

Hong Leong Investment Bank (HLIB) Research said share prices on the FBM KLCI may trend higher,  which could be a CNY rally amid increasing buying interest within the index heavyweights. 

“However, retailers may remain cautious and lock in near term gains among the small cap and lower liners,” it said.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported the US dollar wallowed near seven-week lows in early Asian trade on Tuesday, pressured by concerns about the impact of U.S President Donald Trump's protectionist trade stance.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major peers, slipped 0.1% to 100.060 , after falling to 99.899, its lowest since Dec 8.

At Bursa Malaysia, Maxis added seven sen to RM6.06 while Petronas Chemicals and RHB Bank gained five sen each to RM7.18 and RM4.93.
BAT was the top gainer, up 54 sen to RM44.90 and HLFG climbed eight sen to RM14.88.

Stone Master surged five sen to 15 sen in active trade while UliCorp and MMC Corp inched up five sen each to RM4.15 and RM2.34.

UMW Oil and Gas was the most active, staging a mild recovery after last week’s selldown. It added 2.5 sen to 70.5 sen with 11 million shares done. Icon Offshore added 0.5 sen to 46 sen.

AirAsia rose two sen to RM2.46 after the recent selling pressure. It refuted reports linking it to a Rolls-Royce plc bribery case, as the low-cost carrier said it has had no dealings or transactions with the United Kingdom engine maker.

Aeon Credit fell eight sen to RM15.92, Heineken six sen lower at RM15.90 and KESM was down four sen to RM10.