Genting, Petronas Chemicals help propel KLCI to September high

KUALA LUMPUR: Strong fund buying of Genting Bhd and Petronas Chemicals helped propel the FBM KLCI to close at 1,862 which was the highest since September 2014, but the gains still lagged the key regional bourses.

At 5pm, the KLCI was up 14.14 points or 0.76% to 1,862.80. Turnover was 3.03 billion shares valued at RM2.45bil. There were 536 gainers, 359 losers and 311 counters unchanged.

The weaker ringgit vis-à-vis the US dollar apparently did not dampen investor appetite for stocks ahead of the two-day Invest Malaysia 2015 conference, which starts on Thursday. The ringgit weakened to 3.6370 to the US dollar from 3.6215 the previous day.

Key regional markets notched gains of up to 2.8% with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index the top performer.

Reuters reported Hong Kong stocks posted their biggest daily gain in two weeks on Tuesday on signs that investors in mainland China are keen to plough more money into the city's markets, hunting for bargains.

At Bursa Malaysia, Petronas Chemicals rose 28 sen to RM6.04 and pushed the KLCI up 3.91 points. Genting Bhd’s 47 sen gain to RM9.20 added 3.07 points to the index.

MISC added 21 sen to RM9.20 while Genting Malaysia gained 12 sen to RM4.45.

Among the banks, Hong Leong Bank added 20 sen to RM14.24, CIMB rose 12 sen to RM6.27, RHB Cap 15 sen to RM8.05, AmBank 10 sen to RM6.50, Public Bank eight sen to RM19.68 while Maybank edged up two sen to RM9.50.

Crude oil price were lower at 5pm, with US crude down 10 cents to US$56.28 and Brent shed 28 cents to US$63.17.

Armada added six sen to RM1.25 in active trade. Peronas Dagangan advanced 22 sen to RM21.12 and heavyweight SKPetro gained four sen to RM2.73.

Crude palm oil for third-month delivery rose RM24 to RM2,180. KL Kepong rose 16 sen to RM22.70, FGV four sen to RM2.14 but IOI Corp lost seven sen to RM4.42 and PPB Group two sen to RM15.98. United Plantations fell 12 sen to RM26.48.

Among the key regional markets,

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.4% to 19,909.09;

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 2.79% to 27,850.49;

Shanghai’s Composite Index rose 1.82% to 4,293.62;

Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.2% to 9,533.98;

South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.09% to 2,144.79;

Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.2% to 3,510.26.

Spot gold shed 34 cents to US$1,195.55.