KUALA LUMPUR: Asian markets held firmly to gains from the previous session as optimism grew following the announcement of the tariffs exchange in the Sino-US trade conflict.
China's markets were marginally lower with the Shanghai Composite Index down 0.06% to 2,729.24 and the CSI 300 shedding 0.07% to 3,310.13.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng, however, rose 0.26% to 27,477.67.
Japan's Nikkei crept just 0.01% higher to 23,674.93 while South Korea's Kospi added 0.65% to 2,323.45 and Taiwan's Taiex shed 0.24% to 10,831.41.
At market close, the FBM KLCI was up 2.99 points to 1,803.70. Trading volume was 1.94 billion shares valued at RM2.02. Market breadth was quite evenly split with 404 gainers versus 412 decliners and 408 counters unchanged.
Petronas Chemicals held on to its lead with a seven sen increase to RM9.48.
Banks that rose on Thursday included Maybank adding four sen to RM9.79, CIMB rising two sen to RM6.14 and Hong Leong Bank climbing 14 sen to RM20.80.
Genting Malaysia lifted seven to RM4.89.
Among the laggards, Telekom Malaysia shaved seven sen to RM3.13, IHH lost three sen to RM5.16 and MAHB shed 12 sen to RM8.95.
On the broader market, Scientex rose in active trade following it announced a 22% increase in its Q4 net profit. The counter closed 34 sen higher at RM8.57.
Heineken also rose 12 sen to RM20.42 while Time dotCom grew 11 sen to RM8.17.
Mi Equipment ended its four-day winning streak with a 22 sen drop to RM3.10. Allianz also weighed with a 14 sen fall to RM12.74.
Oil prices rose on Thursday as expectations the US sanctions on Iran will weigh on supply. WTI crude rose 42 cents to US$71.54 a barrel whiel Brent crude added nine cents to US$79.49.
In currencies, the ringgit grew firmer against key currencies. It added 01% against the US dollar at 4.1384, 0.2% against the pound sterling at 5.4583 and 0.1% against the Singapore dollar at 3.0229.
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