KUALA LUMPUR: Malayan Banking Bhd
(Maybank), Genting Bhd and IHH Healthcare and underpinned the FBM KLCI firm performance on Wednesday tracking the key Asian markets.
At 5pm, the 30-stock index was up 3.12 points to 1,768.92. The benchmark index opened up 1.98 points, or 0.11% at 1,767.78 this morning. The market traded within a range of 5.06 points between an intra-day high of 1769.68 and a low of 1764.62 during the session.
Turnover was at 3.554 billion shares valued at RM3.131bil. Market breadth was positive with 506 gainers against 410 losers while 386 counters unchanged.
Stock market data showed foreign funds were net buyers at RM359.11mil while local institutions were net sellers at -RM301.03mil and retail investors at -RM58.08mil.
On Bursa Malaysia, Hong Leong Financial Group was the top gainer, up 32 sen to RM16.52, Hong Leong Industries rose 31 sen to RM10.06 while KPJ-WB added 29.5 sen to RM1.11.
Earlier, Starbiz reported that KPJ Healthcare’s company issued warrants hit its limit up price of RM1.11 today due to renewed buying interest following the group’s share split proposal last week.
Top losers on Bursa Malaysia included Allianz Malaysia, which fell 20 sen to RM11.30 while Dutch Lady declined 16 sen to RM57.24.
Maybank was one the mover among the KLCI stocks, pushing the 30-stock index up 1.8587 points. It closed 11 higher at RM9.48. Genting added 10 sen to RM9.96 pushing the index up by 0.6211 while IHH Healthcare rose 4 sen to RM6.14, nudging the index up by 0.5447.
Reuters reporter that European shares pulled back slightly from 20-month highs on Wednesday as some disappointing corporate results weighed, though shares of French luxury group Kering hit a record high after reporting strong sales.
The pan-European benchmark fell 0.1% in early trades with financials the biggest drag. France’s CAC 40 was little changed hovering close to the nine-year highs hit earlier this week.
Meanwhile, oil prices weakened further on as data showed a rise in U.S. crude inventories and record supplies in the rest of the world cast doubt over OPEC’s ability to cut output and tighten the market.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 14 cents at US$49.42 a barrel.
International benchmark Brent crude oil prices were trading at US$51.99 per barrel, down 11 cents from their previous close.
Among the key regional markets:
Japan’s Nikkei 225 is up 1.1% to 19,289.43;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.5% to 24,578.43;
Shanghai SE Composite Index rose 0.2% to 3,140.85;
Taiwan’s Taiex accumulated 0.15% to 9,856.45;
South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.5% to 2,207.84 and;
Singapore’s Straits Times Index advanced 0.22% to 3,170.94 points.
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