KUALA LUMPUR: Fund buying of Digi and Petronas Chemicals shored up the FBM KLCI on Tuesday after it fell into the negative territory earlier but the stocks which were in the limelight were Lotte Chemical Titan (LCTitan) and chip maker MPI.
At 5pm, the KLCI was up 1.31 points or 0.07% higher at 1,772.39. Turnover was higher at 1.80 billion shares valued at RM1.79bil. The broader market was firmer with 480 gainers and 306 losers while 432 counters were unchanged.
Hong Kong shares finished down , falling late in the session after profit-taking pressures overcame support from a strong performance in banking shares, Reuters reported.
The Hang Seng Index fell 0.3%, to 27,174.96, while the China Enterprises Index gained 0.3% to 10,738.00.
The ringgit fell 0.05% to the US dollar at 4.2955 but rose against other key currencies. It rose 0.37% to the pound sterling at 5.5521 and climbed 0.16% to the Singapore dollar at 3.1483 and rose 0.35% to the euro at 5.0510.
At Bursa, MPI rallied RM1.02 to RM14.14 and reached CIMB Equities Research's target price of RM14.20. The research house said the chip maker was exploring potential mergers and acquisitions targets to expand its portfolio offerings.
The research house said MPI was identifying companies with capabilities in manufacturing fan-out wafer level packaging, cavity package, module level assembly, 3D printing, flexible board etc.
LCTitan jumped 42 sen to RM5.12, the best one-day performance since its listing on the Main Board on July 11. The shares had came under selling pressure recently after the release of its financial results.
However, Maybank Investment Bank Research saw value emerging in the company and initiated coverage with a “buy”rating and target price of RM7.85.
LCTitan's call warrants were actively traded, with LCTitan-CE up 0.5 sen to 21 sen while CB and CF fell 0.5 sen to 2.5 sen and four sen each while CA was flat at 4.5 sen.
Oil prices steadied on Tuesday after a heavy sell-off following a surge in the dollar, and weighed down by signs of weaker demand in China, the world's second-largest consumer. US light crude oil rose 10 cents to US$47.69 and Brent added nine cent to US$50.82.
Among the refiners, Petron rose 21 sen to RM8.97 while Henyuang added eight sen to RM7.58.
Petronas Chemicals rose four sen to RM7.15, Petronas Gas added two sen to RM18.82 and Petronas Dagangan was flat at RM23.96.
Digi rose eight sen to RM4.80 and added 1.02 points to the KLCI, Axiata gained two sen to RM4.83, Maxis edged up one sen to RMRM5.75 and Telekom was flat at RM6.37.
Among the heavyweights, Tenaga fell two sen to RM14.20, MISC lost eight sen to RM7.30 but Genting Malaysia added six sen to RM6.06 and Genting Bhd
shed one sen to RM9.65.
Among the consumer stocks, BAT rose 80 sen to RM44, Ajinomoto added 16 sen to RM26.16 but Dutch Lady fell 18 sen to RM59.
As for banks and finance stocks, HLFG fell 16 sen to RM16.64, Hong Leong Bank was down eight sen to RM15.38, Maybank, Public Bank and CIMB were flat at RM9.69, RM20.58 and RM6.78, AmBank and RHB Bank shed one sen each to RM4.63 and RM4.83.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery fell RM25 to RM2,640 per tonne. KL Kepong, Sime Darby and PPB Group lost two sen each to RM24.68, RM9.38 and RM16.58 respectively while IOI Corp was flat at RM4.46.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.11% to 19,753.31;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.28% to 27,174.96;
CSI 300 gained 0.31% to 3,706.06;
Shanghai’s Composite Index added 0.43% to 3,251.26;
Hang Seng China Enterprise gained 0.29% to 10,738;
Taiwan’s Taiex added 0.84% to 10,311.16; and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.42% to 3,294.93.
Spot gold fell US$7.83 to US$1,274.32 per troy ounce.
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