KUALA LUMPUR: Fund buying of Maxis and Petronas Gas underpinned the FBM KLCI's late surge on Wednesday amid a weaker broader market while crude oil prices marched towards the key US$50 a barrel.
At 5pm, the KLCI was up 5.12 points or 0.31% to 1,630.96. Turnover was 1.73 billion shares valued at RM1.81bil. Decliners beat advancers five to three with 510 losers to 302 gainers and 360 counters unchanged.
Easing concerns over several major global risks helped stock markets rise robustly for a second day on Wednesday, underpinned by gains in oil and metals prices and data showing the US economy can deal with a hike in interest rates, Reuters reported.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1.8%, their best one-day gain since late March. Japan's Nikkei closed up 1.6% as exporters got a boost from a weaker yen.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 2.4%, but China shares surrendered early gains and slipped into the red amid concerns about sluggish growth in the world's second-largest economy.
Oil rose towards US$50 a barrel on Wednesday for the first time in seven months, driven by expectations that shrinking supply will help erode any overhang of unwanted crude, particularly after industry data showed a sharp fall in US inventories. US light crude oil rose 46 cents to US$49.08 and Brent advanced 44 cents to US$49.05.
The ringgit weakened past the key 6.0 level against the pound sterling to 6.0122 at 5pm – the weakest since Feb 3, from the previous close of 5.9879. However, it firmed up against the US dollar to 4.1035 from 4.1210 and it was at 2.9731 against the Sigapore dollar while it advanced to 4.5740 against the Euro from 4.6065.
At Bursa Malaysia, consumer stocks were the top gainers, with Nestle up 48 sen to RM76, Heineken 28 sen to RM15.02, BAT 26 sen to RM50.06 and Carlsberg 22 sen to RM13.16.
However, Ajinomoto was down 50 sen to RM12.78 but off the day's worst afer the recent queries by Bursa Securities. Dutch Lady
ended down 44 sen to RM55.06.
Petronas Gas rose 34 sen to RM21.52 and added 1.15 points to the KLCI, Petronas Chemicals gained seven sen to RM6.49 – pushing up the KLCI 2.11 points. Petronas Dagangan was flat at RM23.52 while SK Petro gained two sen to RM1.61.
Maxis was the biggest mover on the KLCI, nudging the 30-stocks index up 1.93 points when it rose 15 sen to RM5.56. Axiata and Digi edged up one sen each to RM5.40 and RM4.42 while Telekom was flat at RM6.67.
Crude palm oil prices for third month delivery rose RM33 to RM2,535 per tonne. Genting Plantations added 18 sen to RM10.68, PPB Group 12 sen to RM16.24, Sime Darby four sen to RM7.49 while KL Kepong and IOI Corp gained two sen each to RM23.02 and RM4.22.
AirAsia X fell 1.5 sen to 38.5 sen and the warrants 2.5 sen lower at 28.5 sen in active trade. AirAsia fell six sen to RM2.26.
O&C Resources rose 9.5 sen to 69 sen in active trade despite Bursa Malaysia Securities's query over the unusual market actitivy (UMA) in its share price which saw it rising recently.
Petron Malaysia was the top loser, down 76 sen to RM4.47,
Boustead ordinary rights shares lost more than half its value, down 30 sen to 24 sen on the first trading day. Boustead shares fell 25 sen to RM2.84 as seling picked up after it announced a dismal set of results.
As for the banks, RHB Cap rose 14 sen to RM6.06 after its strong quarterly results, AmBank gained five sen to RM4.37, Public Bank four sen to RM19.22, Hong Leong Bank was flat at RM13.40 while Maybank shed one sen to RM8.30.
Tenaga lost two sen to RM14, UMW 25 sen to RM5.15 and Genting Bhd 12 sen to RM8.35.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.57% to 16,757.35;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index jumped 2.71% to 12,118.43;
CSI 300 lost 0.14% to 3,059.23;
Shanghai’s Composite Index was down 0.23% to 2,815.09;
Shenzhen Composite ended down 0.24% to 1,800.23;
Hang Seng China Enterprise jumped 2.77% to 8,536.38;
Taiwan’s Taiex gained 1.15% to 8,396.20;
South Korea’s Kospi added 1.18% to 1,960.51 and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained 0.6% to 2,766.66.
Spot gold fell US$5.82 to US$1,221.38.
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