KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB Group
's rally on Thursday powered the FBM KLCI to its highest close in three weeks on strong fund buying while leaving the other index-linked stocks trailing behind.
At 5pm, the KLCI was up 4.07 points or 0.23% to 1,770.07. Turnover was higher at 1.59 billion shares valued at RM1.97bil. There were 400 gainers, 381 losers and 464 counters unchanged.
The ringgit rose 0.19% to the US dollar at 4.2768 but fell 0.75% to the pound sterling at 5.6199 and was down 0.45% to the Singapore dollar at 3.1555 and lost 0.85% to the euro at 5.0221.
Hong Kong shares gained for a fourth straight session on Thursday as investors took heart from Wall Street, where shares climbed to record highs after the US Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged and on strong corporate earnings, Reuters reported.
Most Southeast Asian stock markets rose, as investors took the Fed'ss subdued tone on inflation as a signal that it would go slow on its monetary tightening cycle.
In June, the Fed had described inflation as being “somewhat” below target, but this time around it simply stated that it was below 2%.
At Bursa Malaysia, CIMB rose 19 sen to RM6.59 and nudged the KLCI up 2.93 points, Maybank and RHB Bank added one sen each to RM9.64 and RM5.09 while Public Bank was flat at RM20.50, AmBank shed one sen to RM4.99 and Hong Leong Bank four sen lower at RM15.78. Aeon Credit jumped 46 sen to RM13.96.
Crude palm oil rallied RM58 to RM2,687 per tonne, the highest since April 6. However, it failed to spark interest in the index-linked plantations. While PPB Group rose two sen to RM16.80, KL Kepong was flat at RM24.70, Sime Darby dipped one sen to RM9.54 and IOI Corp three sen lower at RM4.48.
Batu Kawan, the major shareholder of KL Kepong, fell 26 sen to RM18.94, Far East down 23 sen to RM8.62, NSOP 12 sen lower at RM4.10 and United Plantations lost 10 sen to RM27.20
Telekom lost 10 sen to RM6.27 and erased 0.64 of a point, Axiata was flat at RM4.69 but Digi rose three sen to RM4.78 and Maxis two sen higher at RM5.59.
Crude oil prices gave up some of their recent gains, with US light crude down 11 cents to US$48.64 and Brent lost 14 cents to US$50.83. Petronas Chemicals lost thee sen to RM6.96, Petronas Dagangan was flat at RM23.86 and Petronas Gas added six sen to RM18.96.
Among the consumer stocks, BAT rose 34 sen to RM44.40 and Heineken added 32 sen to RM17.96 but Dutch Lady fell 28 sen to RM59, F&N 18 sen lower at RM24.80 and Carlsberg lost 10 sen to RM15.
As for tech-related and semicon stocks, KESM fell 14 sen to RM15.80 but JHM rose 20 sen to RM2.76.
Among the heavyweights, Genting Bhd rose five sen to RM9.72, Tenaga added two sen to RM14.24 and Genting Malaysia one sen higher at RM6.11.
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