Asian stock markets in green today.
KUALA LUMPUR: Asian stock markets, except Singapore, Thailand and Jakarta advanced on Monday, spurred on by the positive sentiment from the economic data in the United States.
At 5pm, the 30-stock index was up 3.38 points, or 0.19% to 1,775.52, on buying support for selected blue chips. Turnover stood at 1.94 billion shares worth RM1.67bil.
The broader market, however, was weak with decliners beating advancers 516 to 363 while 356 counters were unchanged.
Analysts said the performance of the local bourse was in line with most of our regional peers as investors remained upbeat about the better-than-expected US jobs report.
Nikkei 225 added 0.52% to 20,055.89, Hang Seng chalked up 0.46% to 27,690.36 points, South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.14% to 2,398.75 and Shanghai Composite was up by 0.53% to 3,279.46.
Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.18% to 3,320.67, Jakarta Composite Index eased 0.49% to 5,749.29 while Thailand’s SET went down 0.29% to 1,573.61.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that basic resources and energy stocks helped European benchmarks build on the previous week’s robust gains on Monday, as commodity prices climbed.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.1% in early trading, having enjoyed its best day in three weeks on Friday as the euro fell.
Euro zone stocks and blue-chips gained 0.1%, while German and British stocks climbed 0.2%.
On Bursa Malaysia, Hengyuan Refining
added 34 sen, or 4.27% to RM8.31 while Allianz Malaysia and Tasek gained 26 sen each to RM14.30 and RM13.26 respectively. The decliners included Aeon Credit, Hong Leong Bank and Perstima.
Among heavyweights, CIMB Group closed 6 sen higher to RM6.68, Maybank added 5 sen to RM9.70, Petronas Gas gained 16 sen to 18.86 and MISC added 10 sen to RM7.50.
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