KUALA LUMPUR: Petronas Gas and refiners were among the top gainers early Thursday as oil prices rose to their highest in more than two years while IJM rose in active trade after securing a RM1.5b highway job in India.
At 9.27am, the KLCI was up 0.69 of a point or 0.04% to 1,724.23. Turnover was 353.15 million shares valued at RM126.45mil. There were 222 gainers, 154 losers and 235 counters unchanged.
Asian shares edged ahead on Thursday as speculation the Federal Reserve might not tighten US policy as aggressively as first thought slugged the dollar and boosted bonds globally, Reuters reported.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.15% to scale a fresh 10-year peak. Activity was light with Japanese markets closed for a holiday and the United States off for Thanksgiving.
Oil prices hit their highest in more than two years after the shutdown of one of the largest crude pipelines from Canada cut supply to the US. US crude futures were hovering at US$58 a barrel and Brent crude was firm at US$63.29 a barrel.
Refiners Hengyuan added 22 sen to RM10.62 and Petron 20 sen higher at RM12.16 while Petronas Gas added 10 sen to RM16.66.
Lysaght climbed 30 sen to RM3.80, CI Holdings
23 sen to RM2.30 while HL Industry climbed 19 sen to RM9.99.
IJM rose 10 sen to RM3.15 in active trade. CIMB Equities Research is retaining its target price of RM3.87 for IJM Corporation, which is nearly 27% above its last traded price of RM3.05.
MPI fell 28 sen to RM12.98 with 100 shares done. PPB Group and BAT fell 14 sen each to RM16.52 and RM38.52.
Hartalega lost 10 sen to RM9.15 and Tenaga eight sen lower at RM14.78.
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