KUALA LUMPUR: Malayan Banking Bhd
, CIMB Group and Genting Malaysia underpinned the FBM KLCI’s rally on Friday on firm fund buying as investor sentiment perked up in line with the key regional markets.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark FBM KLCI rose 10.25 points, or 0.59% to 1,751.86. The index opened up 0.62 of a point to 1,742.23 this morning. It traded between 1,742.23 and 1,752.77 throughout the morning session.
Market breadth was positive with advancers thumping decliners 490 to 267, while 399 counters were unchanged. Turnover stood at 1.58 billion shares worth RM1.07bil.
JF Apex expects the FBM KLCI to be positive today and extend its rebound off the sipport of 1,730 points following the bullish sentiment in the US and Europe.
Overnight, US stocks rallied on Thursday, with the Nasdaq closing at a record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 174.22 points, or 0.85%, to 20,578.71, the S&P 500 gained 17.67 points, or 0.76%, to 2,355.84
“The FBM KLCI is set to open higher today after US stocks put in a strong performance overnight as the steel sector was lifted by news that President Donald Trump had ordered a probe into imports of the metal and as oil prices steadied after the previous day’s steep declines,” PublicInvest Research said.
“Reports that the Trump administration’s tax reform proposals could be unveiled “very soon” also helped participants put aside recent caution about the quarterly US reporting season and uncertainty over this weekend’s presidential vote in France,” it added.
On Bursa Malaysia, KESM was the top gainer, up 52 sen to RM12.54, Kawan Food rose 30 sen to RM4.50 while Rev Asia added 26.5 sen to 83.5 sen.
The top losers included British American Tobacco, which fell 56 sen to RM46.50 while Lafarge Malaysia declined 20 sen to RM6.43.
Eversafe Rubber, which made its debut on the ACE Market today, was up 5.5 sen to 41.5 sen with 63.5 million shares.
Maybank jumped 18 sen to RM9.26, Genting Malaysia rose 20 sen to RM5.79 and CIMB advanced up 12 sen to RM5.62. The gains in these three counters pushed the index up by 6.7861 points.
Public Bank added two sen to RM19.94, Sime Darby rose one sen to RM9.27, Petronas Chemicals increased four sen to RM7.56.
Meanwhile, Bursa Malaysia will be closed on April 24, 2017, in conjunction with the installation of Sultan Muhammad V as Malaysia’s 15th Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
The regional stocks posted broad gains at midday on Friday. Performance-wise, Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.82%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.15% and Korea’s Kospi advanced 0.87%.
Meanwhile, ringgit opened slightly higher against the US dollar today. It was quoted at 4.3965 to a dollar at noon.
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