KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips eked out some gains in the morning session on Wednesday, with the FBM KLCI up more than one point in volatile trade, underpinned by gains in Genting Bhd
and Petronas Dagangan but BAT skidded nearly 10%.
At 12.30pm, the KLCI was up 1.13 points or 0.07% to 1,662.55. Turnover was 897.04 million shars valued at RM600mil. There were 290 gainers, 317 losers and 344 counters unchanged.
Asian stocks climbed to fresh near one-year highs and the Japanese yen weakened on Wednesday as awaited central bank meetings this week that could see fresh stimulus in Japan and provide clues on US interest rates, Reuters reported.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.2%, climbing to its highest since Aug 11 2015. It is up 10% in a month.
The ringgit was mixed against the key currencies. It weakened to 4.0695 against the US dollar from the previous close's 4.0635 and it fell against the pound sterling to 5.3420 from 5.3342. However, it rose against the Singapore dollar to 2.9965 from 2.9971 and edged up against the euro at 4.4752 from 4.4535.
BAT fell 9.8% or RM5.50 – the biggest decline in recent months – to RM50.50 after its 2QFY16 net earnings tumbled 78% on-year caused by slump in sales volume after the 40% hike in excise duty last November.
However, other consumer stocks fared better, with Nestle up 60 sen to RM80 while Ajinomoto gained 12 sen to RM14.
Panasonic Malaysia was the top gainer, up RM1.18 to RM37.60, Aeon Credit 54 sen to RM14.56.
US light crude oil and Brent fell five cents each to US$42.87 and US$44.82. Petronas Dagangan added 36 sen to RM23.28, Petronas Gas six sen to RM22.18 and Petronas Chemicals one sen to RM6.60. SK Petro edged up one sen to RM1.43.
TH Heavy rose 3.5 sen to 19.5 sen and it was the most active with 104.18 million shares done. Sumatec added 0.5 sen to 10 sen.
Among chip related stocks, Globetronics fell17 sen to RM3.10 with 3.2 million shares done after its weaker earnings. However, burn-in tester KESM added 23 sen to RM6.41.
Among the banks, Hong Leong Bank added 10 sen to RM13.28, AmBank seven sen to RM4.36, CIMB five sen to RM4.23 and Public Bank four sen to RM19.54 but Maybank fell five sen to RM8.04.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery rose RM17 to RM2,326 per tonne.
PPB Group added six sen to RM16, KL Kepong four sen to RM23.06 and IOI Corp two sen to RM4.26 but Genting Plantations lost 10 sen to RM10.50 and Sime Darby two sen to RM7.65.
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