Bank stocks lead KLCI higher as Trump spurs confidence in US-China trade deal

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia rallied on Wednesday as global equities turned hopeful on US President Donald Trump's optimism over a trade deal with China.

The President also said he would intervene in the Justice Department's legal case against Huawei's chief financial officer if it gets in the way of the trade deal.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI rebounded 13.5 points to 1,666.13 after six consecutive sessions of losses. Turnover was 1.16 billion shares valued at RM873.66mil. There were 334 gainers versus 338 decliners and 284 counters unchanged.

Bank stocks showed the most bullish momentum in morning trade, with Public Bank jumping 40 sen to RM24.90 and CIMB surging 25 sen to RM5.76. Hong Leong Bank put on 40 sen to RM20.50 while RHB gained four sen to RM5.29.

Telcos also edged higher, led by Digi rising two sen to RM4.35, Axiata adding one sen to RM3.77 and Maxis gaining one sen to RM5.23 

Nestle slid RM1.20 to RN144.80, Dialog shed two sen to RM3.15 and Tenaga Nasional dropped six sen to RM13.48.

Among most actively traded counters, MyEG fell seven sen to 94 sen, followed by Priceworth adding 0.5 sen to five sen and Sanichi gaining one sen to 13 sen.

Top Glove saw some positive price action, rebounding 17 sen to RM5.71 after two days of losses following allegations that it had violated workers' rights.

Meanwhile Genting also saw some reprieve after six straight days of losses, retracing 10 sen to RM6.03.

Oil markets were buoyed by a disruption to Libyan oil exports adter local militia seized the country's biggest oil field. 

The Opec-led supply cuts planned for 2019 also helped to stabilise markets even as investors turned more positive on future demand following Trump's comments.

Brent crude rose 65 cents to US$60.85 a barrel while WTI crude gained 61 cents to US$52.26 a barrel.

In currencies, the ringgit was marginally stronger against the greenback at 4.1820. It also grew slightly against the Singapore dollar at 3.0450 and jumped 0.85% against the pound sterling at 4.2309.