KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips chalked up stronger gains in late Monday trade on some buying support seen in key stocks like Genting Bhd
, Tenaga Nasional, Digi and Maybank, mirroring the positive sentiment in Asia.
At 5pm, the KLCI was up 4.34 points or 0.25% to 1,721.92. Turnover rose to 3.78 billion shares valued at RM3.08bil – the highest in recent weeks. There were 473 gainers, 497 losers and 326 counters unchanged.
Asian shares rose on Monday, taking their cue from gains on Wall Street after strong U.S. job data, though the mood was cautious as oil prices plunged to 3 1/2-month lows on fresh worries of oversupply, Reuters reported.
The wire also reported an event-packed week for global markets got underway on Monday with stocks steady and the dollar recovering from a three-day fall as investors braced for a potential interest rate hike in the United States, a Dutch election and the first G20 finance ministers' meeting of the Trump era.
The ringgit rose 0.15% against the weaker US dollar to 4.4465 from the previous close of 4.4530. However, it weakened 0.31% against the pound sterling to 5.4319 from 5.4150, weakened 0.28% against the Singapore dollar to 3.1488 from 3.1402 and lost 0.49% against the Euro to 4.7466 from 4.7237.
Iskandar Waterfront City (IWC) closed up 31 sen to RM2.59 with 128.72 million shares done. It hit limit-up for the second day early Monday, surging to a high of RM2.93. Ekovest slipped three sen to RM1.42 after the surge last week.
However, while trading volume continues to be heavy amid the strong corporate newsflow, the surge in IWC share price could have been overbought, as evident when it closed off the day's high.
Genting Bhd rose 13 sen to RM9.43 and pushed the KLCI up 0.83 of a point but Genting Malaysia lost two sen to RM5.25. Tenaga added six sen to RM13.78 and nudged the index up 0.57 of a point.
Digi and Telekom added four sen each to RM5.14 and RM6.35, Maxis inched up one sen to RM6.43 but Axiata shed one sen to RM4.72.
Among the banks, Public Bank and Hong Leong Bank rose six sen each to RM19.86 and RM13.48, Maybank and CIMB added three sen each to RM8.80 and RM5.40 whule RHB Bank gained two sen to RM5.18 and Ambank was flat at RM4.87.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery fell RM11 to RM2,760 per tonne. KL Kepong added eight sen to RM24.46, IOI Corp rose two sen to RM4.68, PBB Group was flat at RM16.70.
Sime Darby lost one sen to RM9.13 but UMW gained 26 sen to RM6.03. Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), the main shareholders of UMW and Sime Darby – was reported to be mulling a merger of the motor businesses. However, Sime Darby had refuted about such a merger
Among the consumer stocks, Dutch Lady rose 30 sen RM57.30 and Nestle 14 sen higher at RM76.54.
US light crude oil slipped two cents to US$48.49 while Brent edged up eight cents to US$51.45. Petronas Gas rose 12 sen to RM19.72, Petronas Dagagan was flat at RM24.30 and Petronas Chemicals shed four sen to RM7.31.
Priceworth surged 5.5 sen to 20 sen with 414 million shares done. StarBixWeek reported the company is banking on its proposed acquisition of timber extraction and replanting rights of a forest reserve in Sabah to help boost margins and reward shareholders in the process.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.15% to 19,633.75;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index jumped 1.11% to 23,829.67;
CSI 300 gained 0..88% to 3,458.10
Shanghai’s Composite Index ended up 0.76% to 3,237.02;
Hang Seng China Enterprise rose 1.88% 10,258.71;
Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.72% to 9,697.34;
South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.97% to 2,117.59 and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 0.44% to 3,147.15.
Spot gold rose US$4.40 to US$1,209.04.
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