Bursa cautious, banks and Digi help shore up KLCI

KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips eked out marginal gains early Friday amid the more cautious key Asian markets with banks and Digi underpinning the FBM KLCI's slight gains but whether the market could advance further remains to be seen.

At 9.10am, the KLCI was up just 0.59 of  point ot 0.03% to 1,687.54. Turnover was 154.10 million shares valued at RM82.61mil. There were 128 gainers, 271 losers and 184 counters unchanged.

Asian stocks slipped after the European Central Bank slashed its growth forecasts and launched an emergency round of policy stimulus, leaving investors fearing the worst for the global economy, Reuters reported.

Japan's Nikkei dropped 0.9% while Australian stocks lost 0.5%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.3%, having already shed 0.9% the day before.

At Bursa, Digi rose 10 sen to RM4.66 while Hong Leong Bank was up eight sen to RM21.38 and RHB Bank five sen higher at RM5.53.

Lafarge continued to climb on hopes of the East Coast Rail Link revival, adding 20 sen to RM2.55 while Tasek gained 10 sen to RM5.27.

 However, CIMB Equities Research viewed the 17.5% surge in Lafarge’s share price on Thursday lacks fundamental justification.

 Dayang was the most active, up eight sen to RM1.48 with 18.16 million shares done.

Digi rose 10 sen to RM4.66. CIMB Equities Research was neutral on the Malaysian telco sector and switched its telco top pick to Digi from Axiata.

Petronas Dagangan fell 38 sen to RM26.12 with 100 shares done. Carlsberg lost 22 sen to RM25.78 and Vitrox seven sen lower at RM7.22 while UMW and BIMB shed five sen each to RM5.70 and RM4.20.