KUALA LUMPUR: Digi, CIMB, Petronas Chemicals and IHH Healthcare led the FBM KLCI's near 10 points advance at midday on Tuesday, riding on the firmer sentiment among key Asian markets as a US rate hike in June seemed remote.
At midday, the KLCI was up 9.72 points or 0.59% to 1,658.71. Turnover was 1.01 billion shares valued at RM921.72mil. Advancers beat decliners 414 to 264 while 316 counters were unchanged.
Reuters reported most emerging Asian currencies extended gains on Tuesday after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's cautious comments over possible US interest rate hikes drove investors to seek higher yields in the region.
The ringgit touched a near two-week peak as higher crude prices eased concerns over the country's oil and gas revenues. Indonesia's rupiah hit a three-week high, tracking rises in local stocks and government bonds.
The ringgit strengthened to 4.0773 to the US dollar from 4.0985 the previous day and firmed up to 3.0057 to the Singapore dollar from 3.0154 and it was at 4.6303 to the euro from 4,6549. It slipped
against the pound sterling to 5.9188 from 5.9153.
US light crude oil slipped 12 cents to US$49.57 and Brent lost 14 cents to US$50.41. Petronas Chemicals rose 11 sen to RM6.66 and added 1.48 points to the KLCI, Petronas Gas gained 18 sen to RM21.64 but Petronas Dagangan slipped two sen yo RM23.74.
SK Petro rose four sen to RM1.70 and Bumi Armada 2.5 sen to 70.5 sen in active trade and Sumatec was unchanged at 11 sen.
Meanwhile, AirAsia added six sen to RM2.61 after the optimistic outlook by CIMB Research while AirAsiaX was one sen higher at 39.5 sen in very active trade.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery fell RM18 to RM2,642 per tonne. United Plantations was up 16 sen to RM26.40, FGV added 14 sen to RM1.51, IOI Corp nine sen to RM4.36, PPB Group six sen to RM16.26 and Sime Darby four sen to RM7.63. However, KL Kepong fell two sen to RM23.24.
Among the banks, Ambank rose eight sen to RM4.57, CIMB added seven sen to RM4.56, Public Bank rose four sen to RM19.14 Hong Leong Bank was flat at RM13.20 and Maybank fell three sen to RM8.39.
IHH rose eight sen to RM6.48 and pushed the KLCI up 1.11 points. As for telcos, Digi rose 10 sen to RM4.66, Maxis five sen to RM5.64, Telekom was flat at RM6.65 but Axiata fell one sen to RM5.67.
Lay Hong was the top loser, down 15 sen to RM8.85.
DRB-Hicom rose 7.5 sen to 93.5 sen on Proton Holdings had proposed to issue 1.25 billion new redeemable convertible cumulative preference shares (RCCPS) to GOVCO Holdings, a 99.99%-owned by Minister of Finance (MOF).
PublicInvest Research is retaining Outperform call on DRB-Hicom with an unchanged sum-of-parts target price of RM1.26.
It said on Tuesday the diversified group's unit Proton Holdings had proposed to issue 1.25 billion new redeemable convertible cumulative preference shares (RCCPS) to GOVCO Holdings, a 99.99%-owned by Minister of Finance (MOF).
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.68% to 16,693.05;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.8% to 21,198.09;
CSI 300 slipped 0.15% to 3,164.14;
Shanghai’s Composite Index fell 0.15% also to 2,929.79;
Shenzhen Composite inched down 0.1% to 1,918.21;
Hang Seng China Enterprise ros e0.99% to 8,952.98;
Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.88% to 8,673.13;
South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1.02% to 2,006.09; and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 0.46% to 2,844.17
Spot gold fell US$1.36 to US$1,243.98.