KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips continued their advance at midday on Monday on fund buying of Maybank, Tenaga Nasional and Public Bank as investor sentiment was shored up by the stronger ringgit despite the weakening crude oil prices.
At 12.30pm, the KLCI was up 8.68 points or 0.51% to 1,719.23. Turnover was 777.48 million shares valued at RM598.56mil. There were 359 gainers, 227 losers and 336 counters unchanged.
Asian share prices held firm on Monday after solid US payroll data underpinned investor risk sentiment while dovish comments from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen the previous week kept the US dollar in check, Reuters reported.
The ringgit firmed up against the US dollar, pound sterling and Singapore dollar.
It was 3.8807 to the greenback from Last Friday's close of 3.8905 while it was at 5.5231 to the pound from 5.5730 and firmed up to 2.8722 to the Singapore dollar from 2.8856.
The market has been supported by the strong inflow of foreign funds, with net foreign buying.
MIDF Equities Research said despite the consolidating crude oil price, the ringgit rallied 3.8% against the greenback and was last quoted at 3.8905, its strongest level since August 5 last year.
“The Ringgit stayed convincingly below the RM4 mark last week, on strong external portfolio inflow. It has now appreciated 10.4% in the year to date, regaining some of the 18.6% loss in value in 2015,” it said.
For the fourth consecutive week, the amount of net foreign purchase had exceeded RM1bil.
For March, cumulative net foreign purchases amounted to RM6.1bil, higher than that in April 2013. March 2016 was one of the highest months on record for money flow into listed equity, the research house said.
Maybank rose 11 sen to RM9.10 and nudged the KLCI up 1.81 points while Public Bank and Hong Leong Bank gained six sen each to RM18.84 and RM13.46 and CIMB three sen higher at RM4.80. HLFG rose 14 sen to RM15.32.
Tenaga climbed 14 sen to RM14.02 and pushed the KLCI up 1.33 points. Genting Malaysia rose nine sen to RM4.56, IHH was up four sen to RM6.62, MISC three sen to RM8.91.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery fell RM20 to RM2,728. Despite the decline, PPB Group rose 18 sen to RM16.78, KL Kepong eight sen to RM24.08, IOI Corp two sen to RM4.56 and Sime Darby one sen to RM7.89.
Among the consumer stocks, BAT rose 32 sen to RM54.80, Dutch Lady
10 sen to RM52 but GAB fell 10 sen to RM13.90.
AirAsia was in focus after its two founders showed their commitment to the low-cost carrier with their more than RM1bil investment from a share placement. AirAsia C-31 rose one sen to 14.5 sen.
US light crude oil fell 48 cents to US$36.31 and Brent shed 41 cents to US$38.26. Petronas Dagangan lost 26 sen to RM23.84 but Petronas Gas rose six sen to RM21.96 and Petronas Chemicals one sen higher at RM6.73. SK Petro shed one sen to RM1.88.
As for telcos, Maxis rose seven sen to RM6.34, TM was flat at RM6.60, Axiata shed three sen to RM5.86 and Digi one sen lower at RM4.90.
Among the key regional markets, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan were closed.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.34% to 16,109.78;
South Korea’s Kospi was up 0.14% to 1,976.32 and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained 0.72% to 2,838.69.
Spot gold fell US$4.86 to US$1,217.74.
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