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: 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.
At 5pm, the KLCI was up 12.24 points or 0.77% to 1,611.43. Turnover was 2.55 billion shares valued at RM2.12bil. There were 599 gainers, 276 losers and 350 counters unchanged.
A global equity bounce stemming from softer rhetoric by US President Donald Trump on the trade dispute with Beijing waned as grim China data and fresh Italian debt woes cast a shadow over global markets, Reuters reported.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.58%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index 0.52%, CSI 300 2.25%, Shanghai Composite 1.91% and South Korea's Kospi 0.53%.
However, among the Asean markets, Singapore's Straits Times Index fell 0.15%, Thailand's SET 0.5% lower and Jakarta Composite down 1.49%.
At Bursa, Dialog rallied 21 sen to RM3.28 in active trade after it strong third quarter net profit. CIMB Research sees bright prospects for Dialog Group
after its strong set of core net profit and as its projects at Pengerang get underway. Dialog's gain pushed the KLCI up 2.06 points.
Glove makers climbed, with Hartalega up 27 sen to RM5.26 and Top Glove 19 sen to RM4.97. Hartalega added 1.57 points to the KLCI and Top Glove 0.84%.
CIMB Equities Research expects Malaysian rubber gloves to benefit from US-China trade war as tariffs will shift US glove demand from China to Malaysia.
Nestle was the top gainer, up 60 sen to RM145.60, Ajinomoto 34 sen to RM17.54 but Dutch Lady fell 20 sen to RM63, Carlsberg 18 sen lower at RM25.12 and BAT eight sen to RM33.62.
As for telcos, Axiata climbed 12 sen to RM4.42 and Digi 13 sen to RM4.70 while Maxis edged up one sen to RM5.32.
Maybank and AmBank added five sen each to RM9.01 and RM4.36, Public Bank and HL Bank edged up two sen each to RM22.48 and RM19.40 while RHB Bank was flat at RM5.76 and CIMB lost three sen to RM5.13.
Crude palm oil jumped RM33 to RM2,047 per tonne. PPB Group advanced four sen to RM18.56, IOI Corp added three sen to RM4.27, KL Kepong two sen to RM24.40 while Sime Plantation eked out a one sen gain to RM4.69.
US light crude oil fell 40 cents to US$61.38 and Brent was down 19 cents to US$71.05. Howveer, Petronas Gas gained 14 sen to RM16.64, Petronas Chemical four sen to RM8.85 and Petronas Dagangan two sen to RM24.40.
The ringgit weakened against the US dollar, down 0.05% to 4.1737 and fell 0.12% versus the Singapore dollar to 3.0519. However, it advanced 0.21% against the pound sterling to 5.3912 and also climbed by the same percentage against the euro to 4.6807.
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