Bursa Malaysia joined the key Asian markets recovery as they notched gains of between 0.4% and 2.25% with Dialog, telcos, glove makers and Maybank underpinning the advance.
KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips recouped their previous day's losses on fund buying of Petronas Gas, Tenaga Nasional and Genting Malaysia on Friday while the broader market improved.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI was up 7.23 points or 0.4% to 1,828.83. Turnover was 3.83 billion shares valued at RM3.19bil. There were 518 gainers, 446 losers and 425 counters unchanged.
The ringgit was up 0.46% against the US dollar to 3.9367 and climbed 0.15% to the Singapore dollar to 2.9854.
However, the ringgit fell 0.22% to 5.4847 to the pound sterling and slipped 0.08% to the euro at 4.8341.
On the external front, Asia stocks shook off losses on Wall Street and edged up to record highs on Friday following China's announcement of faster-than-expected fourth quarter growth, while worries over a possible US government shutdown weighed on the dollar, Reuters reported.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.4% to a record top. The index had climbed 1.3% on the week, during which it rode a surge in global equities.
At Bursa, Petronas Gas staged a firm rebound to add 88 sen to RM18.20 and pushed the KLCI up 3.09 points. However, Petronas Chemicals fell seven sen to RM8.10 and erased nearly one point and Petronas Dagangan lost six sen to RM24.60.
Refiners Hengyuan and Petron staged solid rebounds after the recent selling pressure. Hengyuan jumped RM2.30 to RM14.30 – which was a big surprise as technical outlook was cautious.
However, Petron has been on a more steady path compared with Hengyuan and gained RM1.92 to RM13.20.
US light crude oil fell 67 cents to US$68.64 and Brent was down 61 cents to US$63.34.
Meanwhile, BAT clawed back part of the losses, adding 62 sen to RM33. Its share price had fallen on concerns about the impact of illegal cigarettes. At RM33, this was near the record low of RM31.40 on Thursday.
In a statement, BAT refuted allegation that small packs of cigarettes proposed by the industry is to increase the number of smokers in the country.
Nestle, which had been on a solid upward trend came under some mild profit taking, falling 90 sen to RM105.90. Ajinomoto lost 32 sen to RM20.70.
Sapura Energy
climbed eight sen to 84 sen in active trade.as StarBiz Premium reported that it might carve out and list its exploration and production unit.
UMW-Oil Gas added two sen to 36.5 sen and Hibiscus gained three sen to RM1.06.
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