KUALA LUMPUR: Investor sentiment perked up towards midday on Thursday as funds were seen picking up banks including CIMB and Maybank while most key Asian markets were also firmer.
The FBM KLCI rose 2.34 points or 0.13% to 1,741.29. Turnover was 1.32 billion shares valued to RM825.20mil. There were 363 gainers, 345 losers and 397 counters unchanged.
Asian stocks erased early losses and edged higher on Thursday as signs of resilience emerged in some markets, while steadying commodity prices - especially for oil - prompted some bargain hunting among investors, Reuters reported.
The ringgit firmed up against the US dollar to 4.4005 from 4.4006 and perked up against the pound sterling to 5.6293 from 5.6388 but slipped against the Singapore dollar to 3.1478 from 3.1471 and fell against the Euro to 4.7168 from 4.7140.
Oil prices recovered after the previous day's selling pressure. US light crude oil added 21 cents to US$50.65 and Brent added 27 cents to US$53.20. Petronas Chemicals and Petronas Dagangan were flat at RM7.58 and RM24.08 but Petronas Gas fell 40 sen to RM18.30 and erased 1.3 points from the KLCI.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery rose RM36 to RM2,501 per tonne. KL Kepong added six sen to RM24.22, PPB Group gained eight sen to RM16.92 while Sime Darby and IOI Corp rose two sen to RM9.27 and RM4.52.
RHB Bank added five sen to RM5.17, CIMB rose three sen to RM5.51, Maybank and Hong Leong Bank two sen higher at RM9.07 and RM13.72 and Pubic Bank flat at RM19.92.
As for the heavyweights, Tenaga was flat at RM13.72, Genting Malaysia unchanged at RM8.69 and Genting Bhd
shed one sen to RM9.69.
Among the consumer stocks, BAT added 40 sen to RM47.42 while Heineken gained 10 sen to RM17.90.
Vitrox rose 29 sen to RM5.11 while Scientex gained 20 sen to RM8.58 and Seacera 11 sen to RM1.26.
MPI came under profit taking after the winning streak, falling 18 sen to RM11.56.
CHHB lost seven sen to RM1.15
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.32% to 18,491.29;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.4% to 23,921.39;
CSI 300 added 0.32% to 3,457.05;
Shanghai’s Composite Index slipped 0.07% to 3,168.53;
Hang Seng China Enterprise added 0.06% to 9,989.97;
Taiwan’s Taiex slipped 0.06% to 9,633.69;
South Korea’s Kospi edged up 0.39% to 2,146.66 and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.23% to 3,133.43.
Spot gold fell 92 cents to US$1,279.29.
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