KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI rose more than 10 points at midday, powered by gains in Tenaga Nasional and Maybank while key regional markets were mixed.
At midday, the KLCI was up 10.1 points or 0.61% to 1,671.99. Turnover was 1.64 billion shares valued at RM955.56mil. There were 381 gainers, 404 losers and 336 counters unchanged.
The ringgit weakened against the US dollar but was firmer versus the pound sterling and Singapore dollar.
It was at 4.2898 against the US dollar from 4.2855. It firmed up against the pound to 6.5068 from 6.5407 and was at 3.0248 to the Singapore unit from 3.0332.
MIDF Equities Research said it had warned a few weeks ago that the equities market was entering a period of low activity, which is a common phenomenon in November and December.
Last week, foreign participation (that is the average daily gross volume) dropped to RM823mil, and remained below the RM1bil mark for the fourth consecutive week.
“We detect edginess in the retail market as there were profit taking in some small cap stocks. However, buying support was present and that made the retail market rather vibrant,” it said in its fund flow report.
US light crude oil fell 81 cents to US$41.09 while Brent lost 51 cents to US$44.15.
However, Petronas Dagangan added 78 sen to RM24.98 and it was the top gainer for the day, Petronas Gas rose 12 sen to RM22.94 and Petronas Chemical added six sen to RM6.66. SK Petro inched up one sen to RM2.13.
Tenaga rose 32 sen to RM13.44 and pushed the KLCI up 3.05 points as the power giant was reportedly not in the running to close a deal with 1Malaysia Development to buy its power assets.
Reports said 1MDB might be close to a deal with a consortium comprising China’s General Nuclear Power Corporation and Qatar’s Nebras Power QSC for its power assets.
Among the banks, Public Bank rose 10 sen to RM18.20, Maybank seven sen to RM8.39, CIMB four sen to RM4.60 but Hong Leong Bank shed four sen to RM13.72. Insurer LPI fell 16 sen to RM14.76.
As for telcos, TM and Maxis two sen each to RM6.57 and RM6.59 while DiGi gained one sen to RM5.11 but Axiata lost two sen to RM6.14.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery rose RM1 to RM2,291 per tonne. PPB Group rose 10 sen to RM15.76, IOI Corp added six sen to RM4.15 but KL Kepong was flat at RM22.62. United Plantations fell 20 sen to RM26.20.
Can-One
jumped 34 sen to RM4.42 and Vitrox climbed 27 sen RM3.32 while PIE gained 20 sen to RM9.20.
Top Glove, which had reached overbought levels that saw it crossing the RM10 level, came under profit taking. It ended the morning down 12 sen to RM9.86.
Concerns about a slump in commodity prices and weaker earnings saw Press Metal losing 11 sen to RM2.04.
Among the key regional markets,
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.03% to 22,748.63;
Shanghai’s Composite Index rose 0.39% to 3,644.70;
Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.19% to 8,481.20;
South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.8% to 2,005.75 and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.09% to 2,915.28.
Spot gold fell US$6.66 to US$1,071.35.
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