KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips advanced early Monday, boosted by gains in Petronas-linked stocks and a rebound in Hong Leong Bank shares while AirAsia X
saw active trade ahead of the release of its earnings early this week.
However, Magnum, MPHB and Genting Malaysia were among the top losers.
At 9.30am, the KLCI was up 4.22 points to 1,772.50. Turnover was 823.75 million shares valued at RM307.64mil. There were 380 gainers, 170 losers and 303 counters unchanged.
Oil prices rose on Monday, supported by reports that an Opec-led supply cut would not only be extended into next year but might also be deepened in order to tightening the market and prop up prices.
Brent crude futures were up 25 cents, or 0.5%, from their last close at US$53.86 per barrel at 0035 GMT.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were back above US$50 per barrel, trading at US$50.62, up 29 cents or 0.6%.
At Bursa, Petronas Dagangan rose 34 sen to RM25.10 and Petronas Gas 22 sen higher at RM19.22. Hengyuan added 21 sen to RM5.30.
Magni-Tech added 23 sen to RM5.88, MB World 17 sen to RM1.88, Vitrox 16 sen to RM6.42 while Hong Leong Bank gained 12 sen to RM14.10.
CabNet jumped 14.5 sen to 70.5 sen with 12.24 million shares done on its trading debut on the Ace Market of Bursa Malaysia.
AAX rose three sen to 54 sen with 80.2 million shares done, its call warrants, C1 rose 1.5 sen to 9.5 sen and C7 added three sen to 16.5 sen. Its warrants WA added 2.5 sen to 30.5 sen.
However, Magnum fell 21 sen to RM1.89 with nearly seven million shares done after it announced a weaker set of earnings and also a heavy tax heavy penalty weighed on the stock. MPHB Capital lost five sen to RM1.69.
Genting fell 15 RM9.80 and BAT 14 sen lower at RM45.64 while JHM shed seven sen to RM4.75 and IW City five sen lower at RM1.68.
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