KUALA LUMPUR: Steady oil prices helped spur Petronas-linked stocks higher early Thursday while Maxis also saw some firm buying interest.
At 9.13am, the KLCI was up 3.35 points or 0.2% to 1,678.56. Turnover was 189.45 million shares valued at RM76.14mil. There were 220 gainers, 69 losers and 189 counters unchanged.
The previous day saw foreign funds emerging as net buyers at RM130.18mil while local retailers were net sellers at RM37.69mil and local institutions net sellers also at RM892.49mil.
Oil prices were steady early on Thursday after US crude and refined product stocks sent mixed messages to the market, with ongoing uncertainty over OPEC compliance with planned output reductions also in focus.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were trading at US$52.24 a barrel at 0040 GMT, virtually unchanged from their last settlement, Reuters reported.
Petronas Gas rose 34 sen to RM21 with 8,000 shares done while Petronas Dagangan added eight sen to RM23.86 and Petronas Chemicals gained seven sen to RM7.22.
Shell Refining added six sen to RM2.53, again defying the takeover offer price of RM1.92.
KL Kepong added 12 sen to RM24.24 while plantations-timber player Ta Ann added six sen to RM4.22. HLFG was up 10 sen to RM15 and Maxis six sen higher at RM6.18.
Top Glove fell 11 sen to RM5.24 in active trade, Maybank was down four sen to RM8.26 and Telekom three sen lower at RM6.10.
Nestle fell eight sen to RM75.92, BAT six sen lower at RM46.52 and Heineken four sen lower at RM16.36.
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