KLCI stages mild bounce to above 1,700 as Public Bank, Tenaga gain

KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips edged higher early Wednesday after the selldown the previous day as investor sentiment was shored up by the positive key Asian markets.

At 9.04am, the FBM KLCI was up 3.78 points or 0.22% to 1,701.38. Turnover was 70.19 million shares valued at RM29.63mil. There were 93 gainers, 122 losers and 108 counters unchanged.

Asian stocks edged up as a late round of buying helped Wall Street indexes pare most of their earlier panic-driven losses, although crude oil struggled near two-month lows after Saudi Arabia flagged possible supply increases, Reuters reported.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2% following a decline of more than 2% the previous day. South Korea's KOSPI added 0.5% and Japan's Nikkei climbed 0.25%.

On the KLCI, Kenanga Research said after the 24.87 point tumble on Tuesday to close at 1,697.60, “technically, the outlook is increasingly bearish as the index breached below 1,700 psychological support level to signify continuation of down trending at least in the short-term”.

With key momentum indicators still in the negative territory, support levels are identified at 1658 (S1) and 1614 (S2), it said. 

Should market sentiment becomes better, key levels of resistance to look at are 1,735 (R1) and 1,760 (R2), the research house added.

Public Bank, Tenaga Nasional and Top Glove added 10 sen each to RM25, RM14.18 and RM5.85 respectively.

Petronas Gas was the top gainer, up 26 sen to RM18.26 with 100 shares done.  Genting Malaysia rose eight sen to RM4.50 while Sime Plantation and LC Titian added five sen each to RM5.25 and RM4.38. 

Axiata edged up five sen to RM3.30 and Genting four sen to RM7.42.

Prestariang rose three sen to 48.5 sen in active trade. CIMB Equities Research’s target price for Prestariang has been reduced from RM2.05 to RM1.89 as it revised its sum-of-parts valuation basis on its National Immigration Control System (SKIN) project.

Nestle fell RM1.30 to RM143.20, F&N 40 sen to RM34.24 in thin trade.