KUALA LUMPUR: Sustained fund buying of Petronas Chemical, Axiata and Genting Bhd
helped push the FBM KLCI to a higher close on Wednesday as trading volume and value surged, tracking the exuberant key Asian markets.
At 5pm, the KLCI was up 19.62 points or 1.15% to 1,726.18 – the highest since mid October. Turnover was 3.82 billion shares valued at RM3.26bil. There were 724 gainers, 252 losers and 346 counters unchanged.
Asian stocks advanced to 4-1/2-month highs as investors bet that Chinese and US trade negotiators would be able to secure a deal to de-escalate their year-long tariff war, Reuters reported.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose as much as 1.1% to mark its highest levels since Oct. 2. It last traded up 0.9% on the day. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 1.01%, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.6%, Shanghai Composite added 0.2% and Singapore's STI 0.57%.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported the rally since January has added more than US$893bil to the value of China's equities, lifting Shenzhen’s risky startups and state-backed giants alike.
US light crude oil sipped 12 cents to US$55.97 and Brent fell 22 cents to US$66.23.
However, Petronas Chemical rose 25 sen to RM9.15 and added 3.50 points to the KLCI. Stock market data showed there were 9.2 million shares crossed in an off-market deal at RM9.14, which was 24 sen above Tuesday close.
Petronas Dagangan gained 30 sen to RM27.06 and Petronas Gas 10 sen higher to RM18.20. Dialog gained four sen to RM3.25.
Axiata rose 20 sen to RM4.31 and added 3.17 points to the KLCI, Maxis 14 sen to RM5.64 and Digi three sen to RM4.72.
Genting Bhd was up 31 sen to RM7.50, Tenaga six sen to RM13.38, IHH Healthcare three sen to RM5.72 and Sime Darby two sen to RM2.29.
Consumer stocks still hogged the top gainers list, with Nestle up RM1.50 to RM1.50, F&N 90 sen to RM35.90 and BAT 88 sen to RM36.18 while Carlsberg rose 60 sen to RM23.74 but Dutch Lady fell 36 sen to RM63.02 and Ajinomoto six sen lower at RM18.76.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery fell RM21 to RM2,239 per tonne.
However, the decline in the futures did not affect the plantation stocks. PPB Group rose 60 sen to RM18.92, KL Kepong 30 sen to RM25.30, Sime Plantation 12 sen to RM5.28 and IOI Corp five sen to RM4.73.
Among the banks, CIMB added seven sen to RM5.76, Maybank four sen to RM9.52, Hong Leong Bank 18 sen to RM21.32 and Public Bank six sen to RM25.06 while RHB Bank edged iup four sen to RM5.56.
After market close, Public Bank announced its net profit for the full year FY18 rose 2.2% to RM5.90bil from RM5.47bil while revenue rose 5.6% to RM22.04bil from RM20.85bil. For the fourth quarter, its net profit fell 5.38% to RM1.40bil from RM1.48bil. It declared a dividend of 37 sen a share.
The ringgit rose 0.3% against the US dollar to 4.0685 but fell 0.52% against the pound sterling to 5.3038. It gained 0.09% to the euro to 4.6183 but shed 0.02% to the Singapore dollar at 3.0108.
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