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: Some nibbling of Sim Darby, Genting Bhd
and IOI Corp helped the FBM KLCI eke out slight gains to close marginally higher on Thursday but Pos Malaysia tumbled after posting losses.
At 5pm, the KLCI was up 0.25 of a point or 0.01% to 1,695.62. Turnover declined to 1.75 billion shares valued at RM1.43bil. The broader market was cautious as decliners beat advancers nearly five to three or 484 losers to 310 gainers and 386 counters unchanged.
China’s main stock indexes ended lower, extending a lengthy slump tied to the fractious trade war between the world’s two largest economies, and few analysts expect either the dispute or market weakness to end any time soon, Reuters reported.
The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.23%, Taiwan TAIEX 0.28% and South Korea's Kospi 0.32%. However, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.65%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index 0.18% and Singapore's STI ended up just 0.09%.
At Bursa, Sime Darby regained its footing and climbed six sen to RM2.46 and added 0.73 of a point to the KLCI. It recorded a strong set of financial results on Wednesday.
Genting Bhd advanced nine sen to RM6.89 and nudged the KLCI up 0.62 of a point whhile Genting Malaysia shed one sen to RM3.59. Tenaga shed two sen to RM14.78 and MISC three sen to RM6.50.
Crude pam oil for third month delivery bounced up RM60 to RM2,066 per tonne.
As for plantations, IOI Corp rose three sen to RM4.27, PPB Group two sen to RM17.02, KL Kepong was flat at RM24.88 whil Sime Plantations slipped five sen to RM5.18 and erased 0.61 of a point from the KLCI.
Crude oil prices fell with US light crude down 1.5% or 82 cents to US$53.81 while Brent crude lost 1.2% or 76 cents to US$62.72.
Petronas Gas advanced eight sen to RM18.78 but Petronbas Dagangan lost six sen to RM26.84 and Petronas Chemical shed one sen to RM9.24. Dialog shed two sen to RM3.16.
As for banks, RHB Bank rose three sen to RM5.16, Hong Leong Bank was flat at RM20.58, Public Bank shed two sen to RM24.80, and Maybank was one sen lower at RM9.39. HLFG lost eight sen to RM19.26.
Among the telcos, Telekom was up three sen to RM2.35, Axiata and Maxis up one sen each to RM3.43 and RM5.36 but Digi shed three sen to RM4.24.
Pos Malaysia saw RM485.32mil erased from its market capitalisation after it swung into the red in the second quarter ended Sept 30, 2018. It was down 62 sen or 19.4% to RM2.58, the lowest in since June 2016.
F&N was the top gainer, up 34 sen to RM33.34 and Heineken 10 sen to RM19.22 but BAT lost 58 sen to RM38 and Nestle 30 sen to RM147.50.
Edaran jumped 12 sen to 63.5 sen and Dnonce advanced 11 sen to 74 sen in absence of any fresh news.
The ringgit rose 0.08% against the pound sterling to 5.3644 but fell 0.05% against the US dollar, to 4.1960, it shed 0.02% to the euro at 4.7841 and slipped 0.03% to the Singapore dollar at 3.0548.
Limited time offer:
Just RM5 per month.
