KUALA LUMPUR: Buying momentum on Bursa Malaysia eased at midday on Friday except for key blue chips including Genting Bhd
and Maybank which helped shore up the KLCI amid a weaker broader market.
At 12.30pm, the KLCI was up 1.12 points to 1,776.51. Turnover was 1.34 billion shares valued at RM853.78mil. Decliners led advancers 439 to 340 while 388 counters were unchanged.
Asian shares were hobbled on Friday by a downbeat performance on Wall Street though they remained on track for weekly gains, while oil prices extended a rally on hopes for output cuts.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan erased early modest gains and turned down 0.3%, shy of nearly two-year highs probed in the previous session but still up 1.6% for the week, according to Reuters.
The ringgit fared better, rising against the US dollar to 4.3475 from 4.3485 and gained versus the pound sterling to 5.6016 from 5.6110 while it edged up against the euro at 4.7248 from 4.7268. However, it slipped against the Singapore dollar to 3.0866 from 3.0854.
US light crude oil notched a six cent gain to US$47.89 and Brent added four cents to US$50.81. There was strong retail interest in Petron Malaysia and Hengyuan, formerly Shell Refining. Petron and Huangyuan rose 31 sen each to RM8.79 and RM4.55.
Petronas Gas fell 22 sen to RM18.90 and Petronas Daganagan 18 sen lower at RM24.10 on profit taking while Petronas Chemicals shed nine sen to RM7.23 and erased 1.18 points from the KLCI.
Genting Bhd added 11 sen to RM9.84 but Genting Malaysia fell six sen to RM5.84. Tenaga was flat at RM13.92.
As for banks, Maybank rose seven sen ro RM9.38 and pushed the KLCI up 1.18 points, RHB Bank three sen to RM5.53, CIMB and Public Bank added two sen each to RM5.93 and RM19.98. However, AmBank fell five sen to RM5.51 and Hong Leong Bank two sen lower at RM14.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery fell RM3 to RM2,669 per tonne. Far East rose 17 sen to RM9 and Batu Kawan 16 sen higher at RM18.90, PPB Group up six sen to RM17.06, IOI Corp and KL Kepong two sen higher at RM4.64 and RM24.88 while Sime was flat at RM9.33.
Among the glove makers, Top Glove lost 11 sen to RM5.04.
CAB Cakaran warrants fell 16 sen to RM2.36 and the shares 11 sen lower at RM2.99 after it proposed a share split and bonus issue to enhance the marketability and trading liquidity of its shares.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.6% to 19,841.97;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index edged up 0.08% to 25,144.57;
CSI 300 rose 0.5% to 3,373.49;
Shanghai’s Composite Index added 0.39% to 3,073.48;
Hang Seng China Enterprise gained 0.15% to 10,273.06;
Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.34% to 9,967.80;
South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.42% to 2,286.80; and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index lost 0.32% to 3,260.77.
Spot gold rose US$1.41 to US$1,226.45.
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