KLCI returns to positive territory at midday

KUALA LUMPUR: After eight straight days of losses, the FBM KLCI managed to stay afloat in Friday morning trade after spending some time in the red.

At midday, the 30-stock index up 0.76 points up to 1,758.82. There were 330 decliners to 249 gainers and 486 counters unchanged. Turnover was 846.75 million shares with a value of RM610.994mil.

Asian markets were up in morning trade on Friday after a tough week in which the gathering risk of a US rate rise lifted Treasury yields toward nine-year highs and boosted borrowing costs across the region, Reuters reports.

Japan was the only major Asian market to trend slightly lower but retained its solid gains this month. It was down 0.3% at midday at 20,305.04 points but has so far recorded a gain of 3.4% in September.

On the local market, Maybank weighed with a 26 sen loss to RM9.54, which shaved 4.53 points off the index.

Other banks fared better. Public Bank moved up two sen to RM20.60, CIMB rose two sen to RM6.29, Hong Leong added six sen to RM15.84, Ambank gained three sen to RM4.34 and RHB rose one sen to RM5.04.

Telcos were mixed; Axiata gained three sen to RM5.24, Maxis was up one sen to RM5.80, while Telekom was down one sen to RM6.33 and Digi was unchanged at RM4.90.

Heavyweights Genting was up 11 sen to RM9.59 while Genting Malaysia rose 11 sen to RM5.43. Sime Darby gained two sen to RM9.03

Meanwhile Petronas-related stocks showed upward movement with Petronas Chemicals gaining one sen to RM7.31, Petroanas Dagangan adding six sen to RM24.40 and Petronas Gas rising 12 sen to RM18.12.

DRB-Hicom announced that it had completed its sale of a 49.9% stake in Proton to China's Zhejiang Geely Group Holdings. The counter saw some upward movement after the trading halt pending the announcement was lifted. At noon, DRB-Hicom was trading four sen higher at RM1.64.

Among gainers, Magni-Tech Industries added 27 sen to RM6.77, Hengyuan Refinery rose 19 sen to RM8.09 and Southern Acids gained 16 sen to RM4.76.

Decliners included F&N, down 18 sen to RM24.30, Boustead Heavy Industries, down 13 sen to RM2.03, and Kumpulan H&L Hightec, which fell 12 sen to RM1.05.

Reuters reported that investors appeared bullish on oil prices on Friday on confidence in efforts to reduce global supply. 

WTI Crude was up earlier on Friday morning, headed for its fourth consecutive weekly gain, but slipped 0.1% lower to US$51.52. Brent Crude rose 0.24% to US$57.55.

In currencies, the ringgit was 0.08% stronger against the US dollar at 4.228, but 0.35% weaker against the pound sterling at 5.6723 and 0.18% lower against the Singapore dollar at 3.1122.