KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia got off to a firm start for February with the FBM KLCI rebounding from last Thursday’s disappointment with Tenaga Nasional and banks taking the lead.
At 9.23am, the KLCI was up 9.51 points or 0.56% to 1,693.04. Turnover was 166.43 million shares valued at RM98.32mil. There were 211 gainers, 117 losers and 214 counters unchanged.
Reuters reported Asia stocks were barely moved, staying near a four-month high after Wall Street's tepid pre-weekend performance, while the dollar was supported against the yen following strong US jobs and manufacturing data.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was basically unchanged, capped below the four-month peak scaled on Friday. Japan's Nikkei added 0.4%. China's financial markets are closed all week for the Lunar New Year holiday.
On the technical outlook for the KLCI, Kenanga Research maintained its neutral outlook, as the index remains above the 20 and 50-day SMAs but other momentum indicators are starting to show signs of slowing down.
“A positive outcome from the trade talk will see the index trend higher to its resistances 1,730 (R1) and 1,800 (R2). Should the index break below both the 20 and 50-day SMA, support levels can be identified at 1,650 (S1) and 1,600 (S2),” it said.
Tenaga rose 24 sen to RM13.14 with 413,200 shares done, Hong Leong Bank added 14 sen to RM20.78 and Public Bank 12 sen to RM24.90 while Petronas Dagangan added 12 sen to RM24.90.
BAT added 18 sen to RM38.50, Heineken 14 sen to RM20.96 and Nestle 10 sen to RM148.60.
Chip maker MPI climbed 18 sen to RM10.14 in thin trade.
Bumi Armada
added 0.5 sen to 20.5 sen and it was the most active with 16.35 million shares done. Sapura Energy was flat at 26.5 sen and its warrants edged up 0.5 sen to nine sen.
However, F&N lost 30 sen to RM33.66, Petron seven sen to RM6.47 and Sime Plantation five sen to RM5.12 while MAHB shed four sen to RM8.
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