KLCI rises as US eases restrictions on Huawei

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI put on 3.96 points to 1,609.32 following a pick-up in regional momentum as Washington eased trade restriction on China's Huawei.

At 12.30pm, the local index was in positive territory as investors bought up oversold heavyweights. 

Market volume however was notably low due to the lack of investment activity during the holiday-shortened week. Investors moved 920.43 million shares valued at RM590.29mil during the morning session.

Heavily traded stocks included Barakah slipping 1.5 sen to seven sen, Lambo unchanged at seven sen and KNM sliding 0.5 sen to 18.5 sen.

Top active gainers by percentage were Nestle rising RM1 to RM146.50, F&N gaining 56 sen to RM33.78 and RHB climbing 16 sen to RM5.90.

Hong Leong Financial Group gained 14 sen to RM18.98 while Public Bank added 14 sen to RM22.56.

Major Asian indices were mostly higher led by the Shanghai Composite Index gaining 1.5%, CSI300 rising 1.8% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng adding 0.2%.

Japan's Nikkei was mostly flat while South Korea's Kospi was up 1%.

Oil prices continued to rise on growing tensions between the US and Iran even as Opec postponed a meeting to re-evaluate its supply cuts.

US crude rose 21 cents to US$63.31 a barrel and Brent crude gained 19 cents to US$72.16 a barrel.

In currencies, the ringgit slid 0.2% against the greenback as the riskier trade environment led to a flight to safety. The local currency was little changed against the pound sterling at 5.3258 and was 0.2% lower against the Singapore dollar at 3.0417.