KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips managed to edge higher at midday on Wednesday, supported by gains in Genting Bhd
, Petronas Chemicals and IOI Corp but the broader market was mixed.
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI rose just 0.76 of a point to 1,707.31. Turnover was robust with 1.47 billion shares done valued at RM1.08bil. There were 371 gainers, 343 losers and 402 counters unchanged.
Reuters reported Southeast Asian stock markets were largely flat on Wednesday, except Singapore which gained tracking US stocks that rose to record highs on Tuesday driven by strong earnings.
The ringgit was flat against the US dollar at 4.4573 while it slipped to 5.5712 against the pound sterling from 5.5383 and fell against the Singapore dollar to 3.1412 from 3.1355. It firmed up against the Euro to 4.7000 from 4.7087.
The latest economic data showed that the inflation rate in January rose at a faster pace of 3.2% compared with a Bloomberg survey of a 2.7% increase mainly due to the hike in petrol prices.
Genting Malaysia rose 16 sen to RM5.36 and pushed the KLCI up a 1.56 points, Genting Bhd added three sen to RM8.92. Tenaga lost six sen to RM13.52 and weased 0.55 of a point.
US light crude oil rose 15 cents to US$54.48 and Brent added 21 cents to US$56.87.
Petron Malaysia rose 16 sen to RM4.63, Petronas Chemicals added six sen to RM7.39, Petronas Dagangan four sen higher at RM24.28 and Petronas Gas was flat at RM20.60. Bumi Armada rose two sen to 77.5 sen with 26.8 million shares done.
Chip maker MPI was the top gainer, up 35 sen to RM9.45 while SAM Engineering added 11 sen to RM5.82.
Pos Malaysia climbed 17 sen to RM4.43 while its major shareholder DRB-Hicom fell three sen to RM1.41.
As for consumer stocks, Heineken gained 12 sen to RM17.02 but Carlsberg lost 22 sen to RM14.52 after weaker earnings and Dutch Lady 10 sen lower at RM54.34.
Among the banks, RHB Bank surprisingly fell 18 sen to RM4.96 with 3.27 million shares in the absence of any fresh negative news. It is due to release its results on Monday.
Aeon Credit lost 12 sen to RM15.38. Among the banks, Hong Leong Bank rose 10 sen to RM13.60, CIMB added two sen to RM5.10, Maybank inched up one sen to RM8.41 while Public Bank was flat at RM20.04.
Pharmaniaga fell the most, down 23 sen to RM4.82 after posting losses in the fourth quarter.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery recovered RM21 to rise RM2,803 per tonne. IOI Corp rose six sen to RM4.57, KL Kepong fell four sen to RM24.20, PPB Group lost two sen to RM16.32 and Sime Darby lost four sen to RM9.13.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225fell 0.05% to 19,372.32;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.82% to 24,161.21;
CSI 300 fell 0.16% to 3,477.42;
Shanghai’s Composite Index shed 0.15% to 3,248.35;
Hang Seng China Enterprise added 1.2% to 10,532.98;
Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.15% to 9,778.44;
South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.11% to 2,105.21; and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 0.36% to 3,105.39.
Spot gold rose 14 cents to US$1,235.88.
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