KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips eked out small gains early Thursday but the broader market was firm, as sentiment continued to be underpinned by foreign funds’ steady flow of funds into Bursa Malaysia.
At 9.14am, the KLCI was up 0.37 of a point or 0.02% to 1,769.29. Turnover was 337.94 million shares valued at 124.11mil. There were 213 gainers, 128 losers and 240 counters unchanged.
Asian shares ticked down from near two-year high on Thursday after a long-awaited US tax plan failed to inspire investors, though sentiment remains supported by global growth prospects and receding worries about political risks in Europe, Reuters reported.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.1% after hitting its highest level since June 2015 on Wednesday. Japan's Nikkei dipped 0.3%.
US President Donald Trump proposed slashing tax rates for businesses to 15% from the current 35% for public corporations and 39.6% for small businesses, and on overseas corporate profits returned to the country.
Hong Leong Investment Bank (HLIB) Research said despite the expected slowdown in buying activities, the KLCI may retest the next resistance of 1,770 to 1,780 as the MACD Indicator is trending higher, accompanied by positive oscillators (RSI) movement.
“After the KLCI surged consecutively for four trading days, index heavyweights may take a breather near the 1,770 level. On the broader market, investors are likely to extend their focus on technology and construction sector after forming an uptrend move on both the sub-indices,” it said.
On Wednesday, foreign funds remained net buyers at RM359.11mil while local retailers were net sellers at RM58.08mil and local institutions at RM301.03mil.
Consumer stock traded higher led by Nestle, which rose 36 sen to RM82.82, Dutch Lady
added 26 sen to RM57.50 and F&N 22 sen up at RM25.18 while Ajinomoto gained 20 sen to RM17.80 in thin trade.
Ancom jumped 20.5 sen to 82 sen, KL Kepong 18 sen to RM24.70 and HL Industries 14 sen higher at RM10.20.
Yinson added 14 sen to RM3.31 with 486,200 shares done. Yinson bagged a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) charter contract worth US$1bil (RM4.4bil) in Vietnam.
BAT fell 20 sen to RM45.80 with 100 shares done. Petronas Dagangan lost 16 sen to RM23.90. HCK 10 sen to RM5.15 while Perak Corp lost eight sen to RM2.05.
Uzma and Genting lost seven sen each to RM1.83 and RM9.89.
As for 7-Eleven, it was down six sen to RM1.63. CIMB Equities Research is maintaining its Reduce call after the company proposed a rights issue via the issuance of new warrants.
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