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: Blue chips tracked the positive Asian markets as funds were seen buying Tenaga Nasional, Petronas Dagangan and Maxis, and tipped the FBM KLCI into positive zone year-to-date.
At 5pm, the KLCI was up 10.4 points or 0.62% to 1,690.94 and up 0.02% year-to-date. Turnover was 3.26 billion shares valued at RM1.92bil. There were 440 gainers, 455 losers and 353 counters unchanged.
All key Asian markets closes highed, with China’s major stock indexes near their 6-1/2-month high. Investor sentiment was bolstered by high expectations of the US Federal Reserve taking a dovish stance at its policy meeting this week and Beijing’s policy boost for growth, Reuters reported.
At Bursa, Tenaga provided the biggest boost to the KLCI, climbing 38 sen to RM13.06 and adding 3.4 points to the KLCI.
Petronas Dagangan gained 30 sen to RM25.10, Petronas Gas six sen to RM17.76 and Petronas Chemical unchanged at RM9.25. Dialog fell three sen to RM3.20. Penny oil and gas stocks were mixed, Sapura Energy
fell while Destini and Bumi Armada gained.
US light crude oil fell 28 cents to US$58.24 and Brent down 21 cents to US$66.95.
Among telcos, Maxis rose 23 sen to RM5.47 and added 23 sen to the KLCI while Axiata and Digi added five sen each to RM4.25 and RM4.67.
Genting added eight sen to RM7.03, GentingM one sen to RM3.42 while Sime Darby added three sen to RM2.18.
Tech-related stocks also gained, with KESM up 14 sen to RM8.68 and Pentamaster 14 sen to RM3.54. Chip maker MPI fell 40 sen to RM10.
Among the banks, Hong Leong Bank was the top loser of the day, down 52 sen to RM20.76 and erasing 1.77 points from the KLCI, RHB Bank shed one sen to RM5.79. Public Bank and CIMB were flat at RM24.48 and RM5.48 while Maybank gained two sen to RM9.49 and RHB Bank shed one sen to RM5.79.
CIMB Equities Research projects weaker net profit growth of 6.8% in 2019F for banks, compared to 8.9% in 2018. A larger increase in costs would drag banks’ 2019F net earnings growth.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery fell RM7 to RM2,105 per tonne. KL Kepong rose two sen to RM25.02, IOI Corp gained five sen to RM4.59, PPB Grpup 10 sen to RM18.34 while Sime Plantation added five sen to RM5.10.
The ringgit rallied against several key currencies, up 0.35% against the US dollar to 4.0760 – the highest since March 5. It rose 0.16% to the pound sterling to 5.4057; up 0.11% to the euro at 4.6237 and advanced 0.15% to the Singapore
dollar to 3.0155.
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