KLCI rallies past key 1,730 resistance level, PetDag leads

KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips extended their gains early Monday on sustained foreign buying and pushed the FBM KLCI past the 1,730 resistance level, led by Petronas Dagangan, plantations and banks.

At 9.26am, the KLCI was up 5.51 points or 0.32% to 1,732.87. Turnover was 4214.39 million shares valued at RM191.46mil. There were 273 gainers, 131 losers and 262 counters unchanged.

Foreign funds were net buyers on Monday at RM79mil while retail investors were net sellers at RM40.4mil and local funds at RM38.6mil.

Kenanga Investment Bank Research said chart-wise, the KLCI breached above the resistance-turned-support level of 1,720 (S1) on the back of high trading volume, hovering a hair inch above its key multi-month resistance level of 1,727 (R1). 

“The underlying index outlook is still positively poised, as it is still trading alongside its uptrend channel. Besides, MACD has staged a bullish crossover above its signal line, while RSI and Stochastic are portraying a positive hook-up to reflect the pilling buying momentum on the key index.

“All in, the KLCI looks poised to retest its immediate 1,727 (R1) level, where a convincing break out would see it gear towards its next resistance of 1,744 (R2). Meanwhile, supports are now capped at 1,720 (S2) and 1,710 (S2) further below,” said the research house.

Petronas Dagangan rose 46 sen to RM24.86 while plantations PPB Group rose 34 sen to RM16.98 and KLKepong gained 32 sen to RM24.70. 

Hong Leong Bank rose 24 sen to RM13.68, KLCC added 18 sen to RM7.98, Hap Seng 11 sen to RM9.17 and Telekom 10 sen higher at RM6.25.

KKB Engineering advanced nine sen to RM1.31 after it bagged two  contracts worth RM100mil.

Hovid rose in active trade after its Chemor plant was allowed to resume operations on Tuesday. It rose 2.5 sen to 34 sen and Hovid-WB added 2.5 sen to 19 sen.

Consumer stocks were among the losers, with Dutch Lady down 66 sen to RM55, BAT 22 sen lower at RM49.28, Heineken eight sen lower and F&N six sen down at RM23.92.