KUALA LUMPUR: After a hesitant start on Wednesday, blue chips followed key Asian markets higher following the overnight rebound on Wall Street and crude oil prices advanced.
At 9.47am, the FBM KLCI was up 4.66 points or 0.29% to 1,638.70. Turnover was 320.72 million shares valued at RM180.63mil. There were 240 gainers, 153 losers and 226 counters unchanged.
Asian share markets joined a global rally on Wednesday as the immediate impact of Britain's vote to leave the EU began to wane and investors wagered central banks would have to ride to the rescue with more stimulus measures, Reuters reported.
Oil rose early on Wednesday as financial traders poured money back into commodities and as a potential strike in Norway and crisis in Venezuela threatened to cut supply.
The wire report said Brent crude futures were trading at US$48.76 per barrel at 0019 GMT, up 18 cents from their last settlement. US light crude was up 30 cents at US$48.15 a barrel.
Maybank Investment Bank Research recommended a “Sell on Rallies” strategy for Thursday. It pointed out the July 2016 futures was at a small 1.96-point premium against the FBM KLCI.
“We believe supports of 1,600 to 1,621 will be weaker, while heavy liquidation activities will cap rebounds at the resistances of 1,634 and 1,664.
“The FBM KLCI fell from the 1,729.13 high, but has not found a permanent floor yet. A volatile and weaker index tone may prevail for now, despite the pre-2H16 window dressing activities,” it said.
Among the KLCI stocks, BAT was the top gainer, up 46 sen to RM50.70 while Petronas Dagangan added 18 sen to RM23.40. However, Axiata and MAHB fell six sen each to RM5.52 and RM6.28.
Bintulu Port rose 35 sen to RM6.98, Pestech 28 sen to RM6.78, SAM Engineering 14 sen to RM7.90 and Heineken 12 sen to RM15.30 while Scientex gained 10 sen to RM12.10.
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