KUALA LUMPUR: Late buying of IOI Corp, CIMB and Genting Malaysia shored up the FBM KLCI and enabled it to close on a firmer note on Thursday but the ringgit fell against the key currencies despite a rebound in crude oil prices.
At 5pm, the KLCI was up 2.37 points or 0.13% higher at 1,770.53. Turnover was 1.55 billion shares valued at RM1.74bil. However, the broader market was cautious with gainers trailing behind losers 329 to 485 while 429 counters were unchanged.
Hong Kong stocks followed most Asian markets lower, after minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting showed a lack of consensus on the pace of US future interest rate increases, Reuters reported.
Oil rose on Thursday, recovering some ground after a surprisingly upbeat picture of U.S. demand halted the previous day's steep slide, although the prospect of oversupply in 2018 has prompted yet more analysts to cut their price forecasts.
US light crude oil rose 58 cents to US$45.71 and Brent gained 56 cents to US$48.35.
Petronas Chemicals rose four sen to RM7.15, Petronas Gas was flat at RM18.60 while Petronas Dagangan fell four sen to RM18.60.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery rose RM18 to RM2,556 per tonne. IOI Corp rose 15 sen to RM4.61 and pushed the KLCI up 1.6 points, Sime Darby edged up two sen to RM9.53 but KL Kepong fell four sen to RM24.80 and PPB Group six sen lower at RM16.88.
CIMB rose nine sen to RM6.60 and nudged the KLCI up 1.38 points, RHB Bank was flat at RM5.07, Public Bank shed two sen to RM20.32, Maybank dipped one sen to RM9.65. AmBank fell 12 sen to RM4.99 and erased 0.61 of a point while HL Bank skidded 30 sen to RM16 and weighed the most on the KLCI, wiping out 1.1 points.
Insurer Allianz was the star performer, its loan stocks jumped 90 sen to RM13.70 and the shares 30 sen higher at RM13.80.
Genting Malaysia added 10 sen to RM5.76, MISC three sen to RM7.43, Tenaga two sen to RM14.14 but Genting Bhd
lost seven sen to RM9.31 and Hap Seng 11 sen lower at RM9.09. Bursa rallied 32 sen to RM10.80.
SAM Engineering loand stocks surged 35 sen to RM3.68 and the shares added 19 sen to RM8.09.
MRCB was in focus, up six sen to RM1.49 with 39 million shares done, its warrants gained 1.5 sen to 12 sen and call warrants C15 was up 0.5 sen tp 5.5 sen.
As for telcos, Axiata rose three sen to RM4.79, Digi up one sen to RM5.01 while Telekom and Maxis were flat at RM6.62 and RM5.50.
KESM hit an all time high of RM16.28, up 68 sen as investors expect strong earnings for the burn-in tester. However, Vitrox lost 12 sen to RM7.98 and Globetronics 11 sen lower at RM5.99.
As for currencies, the ringgit fell 0.05% to the US dollar to 4.3000 and weakened 0.29% versus the pound sterling to 5.5596 while its dipped 0.05% against the Singapore dollar to 3.1082. It lost 0.12% to the euro to 4.8784.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that while Asia’s markets are riding high, yet a cloud of uncertainty hangs over them: the prospect of the US Federal Reserve unwinding its US$4.5 trillion balance sheet.
The expected Fed move will result in steeper Asian bond curves and rising yields in 2018, and create the risk of a selloff in the region’s currencies, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Claudio Piron.
Bloomberg reported that he is forecasting a US$390 billion balance sheet unwind next year, which would result in 19 basis points of curve steepening in Indonesia and 14 basis points in both China and Hong Kong.
If the entire monetary stimulus was unwound there would be 96 basis points of steepening in Indonesia, 72 basis points in Hong Kong and 68 basis points in China, Piron said.
The high readings for Indonesia and Hong Kong in the event of a total exit make sense because of the sensitivity of risk assets to term premium and Hong Kong’s currency link with the US, he said. China’s ranking is surprising but not far from the rest of its Asian peers, Bloomberg reported.
Limited time offer:
Just RM5 per month.
