Maybank, Petronas stocks push KLCI to higher close

Maybank led the KLCI to a higher close.

KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips closed higher on Monday, underpinned by fund buying of Maybank, Public Bank and Petronas-linked stocks amid a more cautious broader market though the key Asian bourses tracked higher.

At 5pm, the KLCI was up 3.01 points or 0.17% to 1,811.60. Turnover was 2.75 billion shares valued at RM2.02bil. Decliners led advancers 376 to 572 while 374 counters were unchanged.

On the external front, Hong Kong stocks closed at their highest level in six months on Monday, tracking gains in mainland shares after China's central bank guided the yuan higher by tweaking its currency management mechanism, Reuters reported. 

Stocks rose across the board in Hong Kong, with the IT, consumer goods and property indices all up more than 2%.
Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index rose 1.16%, while Japan's Nikkei index closed up 0.88%.
At home,  Maybank rose 12 sen to RM9.83 and pushed the KLCI up 2.34 point while Public Bank added eight sen to RM24.98. However, RHB Bank and CIMB shed two sen each to RM5.23 and RM5.96 and Hong Leong Bank lost six sen to RM19.90.

US light crude oil fell 34 cents to US$68.38 and Brent was down 39 cents to US$75.43.

As for oil and gas stocks, Petronas Chemical rose 13 sen to RM9.50 and added 1.85 points to the KLCI, Petronas Gas and  Petronas Dagangan added 30 sen each to RM18.80 and RM26.98. Dialog was up five sen to RM3.45.

Crude palm oil for third month delivery fell RM16 to RM2,203 per tonne.

Among the plantations, PPB Group and KL Kepong rose four sen each to RM16.80 and RM24.72 while IOI Corp shed two sen to RM4.56.

However, Sime Plantation fell 14 sen to RM5.20 and erased 1.7 points from the KLCI, Sime Darby was down one sen to RM2.56 and Sime Property five sen lower at RM1.23.

As for telcos, Maxis and Digi rose two sen to RM5.84 and RM4.79 while Axiata lost seven sen to RM4.65 and erased 1.13 points.

Ideal Jacobs and the warrants hit limit-up. The shares surged 39 sen to RM1.71 and its warrants surged 30 sen to 89 sen.

Pos Malaysia came under pressure after the poorer set of results, falling 49 sen to RM3.68.

Sapura Energy fell four sen to a new low of 37.5 sen with 348.88 million shares done as investors were concerned about its RM4bil cash call.

The ringgit firmed up against the US dollar and pound sterling but fell against the euro and Singapore unit.

The local unit rose 0.2% to 4.1003 against the greenback and climbed 0.23% against the pound to 5.2637. It fell 0.12% against the euro to 4.7589 and shed 0.04% against the Singapore dollar to 2.9990.