KUALA LUMPUR: Fund nibbling of Malayan Banking Bhd
, Petronas Chemicals Bhd and Sime Darby Bhd underpinned the FBM KLCI's advance at midday on Thursday as key Asian markets rallied, led by energy stocks.
At 12.30pm, the KLCI was up 4.71 points or 0.28% to 1,669.67. Turnover was 1.02 billion shares valued at RM721.85mil. There were 370 gainers, 309 losers and 352 counters unchanged.
The ringgit climbed against the other key currencies, advancing to 4.1163 against the US dollar from 4.1383 against the previous day while it firmed up against the pound sterling at 5.3603 from 5.3760. It was higher against the Singapore dollar at 3.0225 from 3.0387 and edged up against the Euro to 4.6226 from 4.6412.
Southeast Asian stock markets rose on Thursday, in line with broader Asian shares, led by energy counters across the region as a rally in global oil prices after Opec members struck a deal to curtail output aided sentiment, Reuters reported.
However, oil futures retreated on concerns on how Opec would implement the plan. US light crude oil eased five cents to US$47 and Brent was down 17 cents to US$48.52.
Lower liner oil and gas stocks rose in very active trade, with Sumatec and Borneo Oil up 0.5 sen to nine sen and 18.5 sen while Perisai was flat at 14 sen. Among thebigger cap stocks, Bumi Armada added 3.5 sen to 72.5 sen while SK Petro gained six sen to RM1.56.
Petronas Chemicals gained nine sen to RM6.69 and pushed the KLCI up 1.19 points, Petronas Gas was six sen higher at RM21.92 and Petronas Dagangan addedtwo sen to RM23.48.
As for banks, Maybank rose 11 sen to RM7.63 and pushed the KLCI up 1.83 points, Hong Leong Bank was flat at RM13.10, Public Bank shed four sen to RM19.90 while CIMB lost one sen to RM4.81.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery rose RM2 to RM2,607 per tonne. Sime Darby added 10 sen to RM7.75 and nudged the KLCI up 1.05 points, PPB Group inched up two sen to RM16.20. IOI Corp and KL Kepong were flat at RM4.51 and RM24.08. Genting Plantations fell 12 sen to RM10.76.
BAT rose the most, up RM1.22 to RM50.34 and Carlsberg added 12 sen to RM14.66.
Pos Malaysia gave up some of the recent gains, sliding eight sen to RM3.87.
Profit taking saw Kossan falling eight sen to RM6.81 and Top Glove down seven sen to RM5.
Among the big cap stocks, Genting Malaysia shed eight sen to RM4.62 after the previous day's gains, Genting Bhd added six sen to RM8.05, MISC four sen higher at RM7.60 but Tenaga shed four sen to RM14.38.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rallied 1.53% to 16,717.56;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.48% to 23,731.97;
CSI 300 added 0.66% to 3,252.10;
Shanghai’s Composite Index rose 0.56% to 3,004.64;
Hang Seng China Enterprise added 0.92% to 9,809.71;
Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.83% to 9,270.72;
South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.81% to 2,069.72 and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index climbed 0.59% to 2,874.82.
Spot gold rose US$3.41 to US$1,324.95.
Limited time offer:
Just RM5 per month.
