Petronas Chemicals will have a positive cash flow impact by decreasing its capex commitment as a result of Saudi Aramco
KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips closed on a slightly firmer note on Thursday, underpinned by gains in Petronas Chemicals, Genting Malaysia and RHB Bank while the ringgit climbed against several currencies including the US dollar.
At 5pm, the KLCI was up 2.56 points or 0.14% to 1,776.31. Turnover was 1.80 billion shares valued at RM1.88bil. There were 461 gainers, 315 losers and 453 counters unchanged.
Market sentiment was also firmer ahead of the release of the second quarter GDP data on Friday afternoon. The consensus is that the economy grew more than 5% in the quarter.
Hong Kong shares closed slightly down on Thursday as profit-taking outweighed solid gains by gaming and social media firm Tencent after the company posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings, Reuters reported.
The ringgit rose 0.07% to the US dollar to 4.2955 and advanced 0.03% against the pound sterling to 5.5376 and edged up 0.02% versus the euro to 5.0378 but it slipped 0.14% against the Singapore dollar to 3.1470.
Petronas Chemicals rose 12 sen to RM7.28 and pushed the KLCI up 1.63 points on rising positive outlook for the company after its peer Lotte Chemicals Titan (LCTitan) rallied on analysts upgrade.
LCTitan rose 38 sen to RM5.44. LCTitian-CE call warrants rose 11.5 sen to 34.5 sen with 44.25 million units done. Its CF call warrants rose 1.5 sen to six sen and CB added one sen to 3.5 sen.
Again refiners saw strong buying interest with Hengyuan up 62 sen to RM8.22 and Petron Malaysia
32 sen higher at RM9.45.
Petronas Dagangan was flat at RM23.96 but Petronas Gas slid 22 sen to RM18.66 and erased 0.74 of a point from the KLCI. UMW Oil and Gas rose 2.5 sen to 31 sen and Bumi Armada two sen higher at 74 sen.
US light crude oil fell 12 cents to US$46.66 and Brent was down eight cents to US$50.19.
Genting Malaysia rose 12 sen to RM6.18 and nudged the KLCI up 1.21 points, Tenaga added two sen to RM14.24, IHH edged up one sen to RM6.03, Genting Bhd was flat at RM9.79 while Astro lost five sen to RM2.62.
Semicon and tech-related stocks also advanced with Vitrox up 25 sen to RM4.80 ahead of the release of its firmer earnings after market close, Petamaster jumped 19 sen to RM4.82. IFCA NSC added 1.5 sen to 41 sen in active trade.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery rose RM20 to RM2,657 per tonne.
Chin Tek rose 44 sen to RM7.80 but United Plantations and KL Kepong lost 20 sen each to RM27.60 and RM24.30, Genting Plantations-WA 14 sen lower at RM2.66 and Genting Plantations and PPB Group 12 sen lower at RM10.36 and RM16.38. Sime Darby was flat at RM9.30 while IOI Corp sjed two sen to RM4.47.
SIG Gas tumbled 17 sen to end at the day's low of RM1.18 on market talk of an impending corporate exercise. The shares had swung in volatile trade.
Among the banks, RHB Bank climved six sen to RM4.93 and AmBank gained seven sen to RM4.71. Both banks are in merger talks.
Maybank edged up one sen to RM9.70, CIMB was flat at RM6.77 while Public Bank was down two sen to RM20.56.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed down 0.14% to 19,702.63;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index lost 0.24% to 27,344.22;
CSI 300 edged up 0.54% to 3,721.28;
Shanghai’s Composite Index rose 0.68% to 3,268.43;
Hang Seng China Enterprise fell 0.15% to 10,801.42;
Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.77% to 10,369.37;
South Korea’s Kospi advanced 0.57% to 2,361.67; and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.31% to 3,268.88.
Spot gold rose US$2.37 to US$1,285.44, this was the second consecutive day with Reuters reporting that US Federal Reserve officials hinted that US interest rates could rise more slowly than expected.
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