KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips staged a rebound on Tuesday, with the FBM KLCI up nearly 17 points at midday, recouping about half of the previous day’s losses, on bargain hunting of oversold stocks including Petronas-related stocks, Maybank and Sime Darby.
At midday, the KLCI was up 16.98 points or 1.03% to 1,670.35. Turnover was 942.21 million shares valued at RM767.87mil. There were 494 gainers, 280 losers and 288 counters unchanged.
Analysts said the selldown of key markets of Monday was overdone as the China manufacturing data was already expected.
Reuters reported Asian share markets struggled to stay positive on Tuesday as a semblance of calm returned to Chinese stocks, though more wild swings appeared likely given the uncertain global outlook for economic growth and interest rates.
After plunging almost 7% on Monday, the CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen eked out a 0.8% gain in choppy trade.
The ringgit firmed up against the key currencies and it was at 4.3400 to the US dollar from 4.3470 the previous day. It firmed up against the pound strling to 6.3880 from 6.4206 and it was at 3.0484 to the Singapore dollar from 3.0511.
US light crude oil and Brent rose 28 cents each to US$37.04 and US$37.50. At Bursa Malaysia, Petronas Chemicals rose 35 sen to RM7.41 and pushed the KLCI up 4.73 points, Petronas Dagangan added 82 sen to RM24.46 and Petronas Gas 60 sen to RM22.24. SapuraKencana Petroleum gained four sern to RM1.98.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery shed RM3 to RM2,433 but off the intra-day high of RM2,454. PPB Group rose 24 sen to RM15.86, Sime Darby added 23 sen to RM7.68, IOI Corp and KL Kepong 22 sen to RM4.44 and RM23.02. However, United Plantations fell 20 sen to RM25.80.
Among the banks, Maybank rose 13 sen to RM8.33 and added 2.14 points to the KLCI, Public Bank four sen to RM18.32, Hong Leong Bank eight sen to RM13.14 and CIMB flat at RM4.42.
However, Tenaga fell six sen to RM13.22, MISC was also down six sen to RM9.21. Genting Bhd
advanced nine sen to RM7.18 and Genting Malaysia four sen to RM4.22.
Chips makers also traded higher, with MPI up 35 sen to RM9.82 and Globetronics 24 sen to RM6.78 but PIE fell 20 sen to RM10.50 with 3,800 shares done.
As for telcos, Telekom Malaysia added six sen to RM6.70, Axiata was up four sen to RM6.34, Maxis and DiGi were flat at RM9.21 and RM5.25.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.03% to 18,446.08;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.02% to 21,323.48;
CSI 300 rose 0.79% to 3,296.50;
Shanghai’s Composite Index rose 0.41% to 3,309.92;
Shenzen Composite fell 0.53% to 2,107.93;
Hang Seng China Enterprise fell 0.07% to 9,304.78;
Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.47% to 8,075.85;
South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.57% to 1,929.79 and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index shed 0.11% to 2,832.93.
Spot gold rose US$2.92 to US$1,077.53.
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