KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia joined key Asian markets and European bourses to close higher on Friday while the pound sterling was hammered following a hung parliament for the UK.
At 5pm, the KLCI was up 3.32 points or 0.19% to 1,788.89. Turnover was 1.91 billion shares valued at RM2.22bil. The broader market was firmer with 476 gainers, 396 losers and 382 counters unchanged.
European stocks were choppy on Friday after Britain's election delivered no clear winner on the eve of Brexit talks, though a slump in the sterling gave an edge to shares in UK exporters, Reuters.
UK's FTSE 100 rose 0.83% to 7,511.79. Utilities including Centrica, National Grid and SSE all rose as prospects of a hung parliament diluted risks of harsher regulation - the Conservatives and Labour party have both proposed tariff caps, Reuters reported.
The ringgit rose against several key currencies. It surged 1.86% against the pound sterling to 5.4294, but off the earlier high of 5.3890.
The local unit rose 0.07% against the US dollar to 4.2653 and climbed 0.21% to the Singapore dollar to 3.0812 and bounced up 0.69% to the euro to 4.7684.
Bankers and economists expect the ringgit may advance 4% as the latest measures by Bank Negara Malaysia reduce the risks of holding the currency and the economy improves. They said the fair value of the ringgit should be between 3.8 and 4.0 to the US dollar.
Power giant Tenaga rose 22 sen to RM14.40 nd ushed the KLCI up 2.11 points, Genting Malaysia rose eight sen to RM5.70 and added 0.8 of a point while Genting Bhd
added one sen to RM9.76. MISC fell nine sen to RM7.43 and erased 0.68 of a point.
AmBank rebounded from the week's low after the proposed merger with RHB Bank, climbing 13 sen to RM5. RHB Bank added three sen to RM5.13
CIMB shed some of the recent gains, sliding four sen to RM6.63, Hong Leong Bank two sen to RM15.20, Maybank was flat RM9.57 but Public Bank rose six sen to RM20.38.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery rose RM8 to RM2,452 per tonne. KL Kepong fell 10 sen to RM24.80, PPB Group four sen lower at RM16.94, Sime Darby was flat at RM9.59 while IOI Corp edged up one sen to RM4.54.
US light crude oil gained eight cents to US$45.72 and Brent added three cents to US$47.89.
As for oil and gas stocks, Petronas Dagangan added 18 sen to RM24.32, Petronas Gas rose 12 sen to RM19.20 and Petonas Chemicals fell one sen to RM7.20. Refiner Hengyuan lost 11 sen to RM5.88.
Among the telcos, Axiata lost three sen to RM4.97, Digi shed one sen to RM4.99 and Maxis was flat at RM6.19 while Telekom rose four sen to RM6.53.
Glove makers Kossan and the call warrants of Haralega were among the top gainers . Hartalega-CU jumped 27 sen to 35 sen in thin trade while Hartalega-CV added 14 sen to 40 sen. However, Hartalega was flat at RM7.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.52% to 20,013.26;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index lost 0.13% to 26,030.29;
CSI 300 rose 0.43% to 3,576.17;
Shanghai’s Composite Index climbed 0.26% to 3,158.40;
Hang Seng China Enterprise fell 0.54% to 10,592.17;
Taiwan’s Taiex lost 0.26% to 10,199.65;
South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.77% to 2,381.69 and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index ended up 0.53% to 3,254.19.
Spot gold fell US$3.82 to US$1,274.19.
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