KUALA LUMPUR: After breaking though the resistance level of 1,730 earlier on Tuesday,the FBM KLCI was unable to hold on to most of the gains at midday as some traders viewed it was time to take profit.
Tenaga Nasional and Hong Leong Bank, banks and plantations helped support the KLCI.
At 12.30pm, the KLCI was up 1.4 points or to 1,728.76. Turnover was 1.83 billion shares valued at RM1.30bil. Advancers led gainers 467 to 319 while 358 counters were unchanged.
A technical chartist said the KLCI must close above the 1,730 on Tuesday for a convincing breakthrough.
On Monday, the KLCI closed up 18.98 points or 1.11% on foreign fund buying, with net buying at nearly RM80mil.
The ringgit slipped against the US dollar to 4.4495 from 4.4480 and weakened against the Singapore dollar to 3.1579 from 3.1559. However, it firmed up against the pound sterling to 5.4495 from 5.4559 and advanced against the euro to 4.7128 from 4.7262.
Tenaga rose eight sen to RM13.76, Genting Bhd
one sen higher at RM9.42 but Genting Malaysia fell three sen to RM5.49.
Among the financial and banks, AeonCredit rose 22 sen to RM15.70 and Hong Leong Bank added 18 sen to RM13.62, RHB Bank gained 10 sen to RM5.22 and AmBank eight sen higher at RM4.98 and Maybank rose four sen to RM8.86. CIMB fell four sen to RM5.42 and Public Bank shed two sen to RM19.92,
With more infrastructure projects to be rolled out, cement players also climbed with Lafarge up 12 sen to RM6.67 and Tasek 10 sen higher at RM13.10.
As for telcos, Axiata and Maxis inched up one sen each to RM4.71 and RM6.39, Digi rose two sen to RM5.06 but Telekom lost four sen to RM6.24.
US light crude oil shed three cents to US$53.17 and Brent was down eight cents to US$55.93. Petronas Gas fell 16 sen to RM19.66 and Petronas Daganagan shed two sen to RM24.38 but Petronas Chemicals rose four sen to RM7.47.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery lost RM25 to RM2,868 per tonne. KL Kepong rose 20 sen to RM24.58 and PPB Group added 14 sen to RM16.78 while IOI Corp added three sen to RM4.73 but Sime Darby shed two sen to RM9.12.
World palm oil production is forecast to climb 11 percent to 65 million tonnes this year from 58.3 million tonnes a year ago as near perfect weather boosts yields, a senior industry official was quoted by Reuters as saying on Tuesday.
Hovid-WB rose four sen to 20.5 sen and Hovid added three sen to 34.5 sen in active trade after its Chemor plant obtained the regualtor's approval to resume operations.
Among the consumer stocks, Dutch Lady rose 34 sen to RM56 and Berjaya Food added 13 sen to RM1.95 but BAT fell 46 sen to RM49.04 and Carlsberg was down eight sen to RM14.32.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.15% to 19,349.58;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.42% to 23,694;
CSI 300 shed 0.07% to 3,231.63;
Shanghai’s Composite Index was down 0.07% to 3,231.63;
Hang Seng China Enterprise rose 0.64% to 10,235.74;
Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.35% to 9,716.32;
South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.67% to 2,095.36 and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index inche dup 0.15% to 3,126.33.
Spot gold rose US$1.31 to US$1,226.60.
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