KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB and Maybank underpinned the FBM KLCI's mild gains at midday on Wednesday as interest returned to banks, while the ringgit firmed up against the key currencies.
At 12.30pm, the KLCI was up 2.74 points or 0.16% to 1,757.66. Turnover was 1.30 billion shares valued at RM1.03bil. There were 352 gainers, 271 losers and 474 counters unchanged.
China stocks rose on Wednesday as investors piled into banking, consumer and resources shares after robust economic growth data earlier in the week and on expectations that Beijing is stepping up efforts to reform lumbering and inefficient state companies, Reuters reported.
Even badly bruised small caps shrugged off early weakness to end the morning higher, though traders were not sure if their recent sharp correction has ended.
The blue-chip CSI300 index rose 1.1% to 3,707.23 by the lunch break, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.8% to 3,213.09.
The ringgit rose 0.01% to the US dollar at 4.2845 and edged up 0.02% to the pound sterling at 5.5835 and climbed 0.07% to the Singapore dollar at 3.1322. It was unchanged against the euro at 4.9418.
CIMB rose eight sen to RM6.41 and pushed the KLCI up 1.19 points while Maybank added three sen to RM9.63. Public Bank rose two sen to RM20.38, RHB Bank added one sen to RM5.05 but AmBank fell six sen to RM5.04.
Consumer stocks were the top gainers led by Dutch Lady
, up 60c to RM59, BAT added 50 sen to RM43.50, Ajinomoto 26 sen higher at RM25.72 and F&N rose 18 sen to RM25.46 while Nestle added 10 sen to RM84.
Iskandar Waterfront City was the most active with 81.10 million shares done, unchanged at RM1.54, Ekovest was flat at RM1.17 – off the early highs as investors were cautious about the run-up in the share prices on Tuesday.
Bursa lost 10 sen to RM10 after Affin Hwang Capital Research downgraded it from Buy to Hold with a lower target price of RM10.30 from RM10.80 as it turns more cautious, as escalating market risks and lofty valuations have caused the market to consolidate in the third quarter of 2017.
KESM fell 16 sen to RM16.04 and Pentamaster 10 sen lower at RM2.23.
Lotte Chemical Titan-CC call warrants fell 29 sen to 26 sen and CD was down 8.5 sen to 26.5 sen. The shares were down one sen to RM6.40, which was the revised IPO price.
Prestariang fell 15 sen to RM2.95 and gave up half of Tuesday's gains. CIMB Equities Research is neutral on the company after its subsidiary Prestariang Skin Sdn Bhd (PSkin) signed a RM3.5bil, 15-year concession agreement with the Home Affairs Ministry to implement an integrated core immigration system known as SKIN.
US light crude oil and Brent fell 12 sen each to RM46.28 and US$48.72. Petronas Chemicals, Petronas Dagangan and Petronas Gas shed two sen each to RM6.89, RM23.68 and RM16.78 respectively.
Genting Malaysia added six sen to RM5.81, Genting Bhd was flat at RM9.45 while Tenaga was unchanged at RM14.16.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery fell RM5 to RM2,508. IOI Corp fell one sen to RM4.48, KL Kepong four sen to RM24.66, PPB Group six sen lower at RM16.78 but Sime Darby edged up one sen to RM9.56.
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