KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia and most key Asian markets closed on firmer note on Tuesday, with Genting Malaysia and Sime Darby among the biggest movers on the FBM KLCI while the ringgit rose against several major currencies.
At 5pm, the KLCI was up 2.6 points or 0.15% to 1,774.22. Turnover was 1.77 billion shares valued at RM1.88bil. There were 392 gainers, 364 losers and 443 counters unchanged.
The ringgit rose 0.15% to the US dollar to 4.2808 and climbed 0.32% to the pound sterling at 5.5008 and edged up 0.03% to the Singapore dollar at 3.1427. However, it slipped 0.12% to the euro.
Reuters reported Hong Kong stocks ended higher for a second straight day on Tuesday, supported by upbeat earnings at some Chinese developers and modest gains on Wall Street.
At Bursa, Genting Malaysia rose nine sen to RM6.12 and pushed the KLCI up 0.91 of a point, Tenaga added two sen to RM14.24, Genting Bhd
was flat at RM9.73. MISC gained two sen to RM7.18.
Crude palm oil for third month rose RM38 to RM2,749 per tonne ahead of restocking by buyers especially from India and Pakistan. Kluang rose 23 sen to RM3.26 with 1,000 shares done.
Sime added five sen to RM9.31, KL Kepong and IOI Corp were flat at RM24.30 and RM4.50 while PPB Group shed four sen to RM16.62.
US light crude oil rose 48 cents to US$47.85 and Brent gained 53 cents to US$52.19. Petronas Dagangan, Petronas Chemical and Petronas Gas were flat at RM214, RM7.20 and RM18.80. Petron added 12 sen to RM9.41.
Among the banks, Maybank rose one sen to RM9.61, CIMB and Public Bank were flat at RM6.75 and RM20.58 whule Hong Leong Bank shed two sen to RM15.56. AmBank and RHB Bank were suspended for an announcement. Insurer Allianz rose 18 sen to RM14.68.
Burn-in tester for chips, KESM was the top gainer, up 42 sen to RM15.04. SAM Engineering added 14 sen to RM7.38. Dnex rose 2.5 sen to 52.5 sen with 44 million shares done.
Pos Malaysia rose 20 sen to RM5.51 on news of stronger earnings outlook.
AAX rose two sen to 38.5 sen ahead of the release of its earnings this week.
However, Hartalega slipped 14 sen to RM6.90. The world's largest nitrile glove producer had earmarked around RM200mil to RM300mil as capital expenditure per plant for the next three years.
BAT fell 12 sen to RM44.18 and Kawan was down 10 sen to RM4.50.
As for telcos, Telekom rose five sen to RM6.40, Digi added two sen to RM4.86, Maxis and Axiata were flat at RM5.78 and RM4.85.
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