KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI rose in Monday morning trade, tracking regional markets that were in positive territory as worries over another North Korean missile launch over the weekend went unfounded.
The US and its allies had been bracing for another long-range missile launch in time for the 69th anniversary of North Korea's founding on Saturday, Reuters reported.
At midday break, the KLCI was up 1.85 points or 0.1% to 1,781.75 points. On the broader market, advancers beat decliners 432 to 341 while 323 counters were unchanged. Turnover was 1.43 billion shares with a value of RM842.17mil.
In banking stocks, Hong Leong Bank gained eight sen to RM15.62, CIMB rose three sen to RM6.79, RHB rose one sen to RM5.01, and AMMB rose one sen to RM4.30. Maybank and PUblic Bank were unchanged at RM9.60 and RM20.60 respectively.
Telcos were also on the rise with Axiata up three sen to RM5.12, Maxis up one sen to RM5.80 and Digi up two sen to RM4.90. Telekom Malaysia rose five sen to RM6.45. Time dotCom fell 19 sen to RM9.22.
The plantation sector saw Sime Darby rising seven sen to RM9.14, IOI Corp down one sen to RM4.54 and KL Kepong down four sen to RM24.70.
Oil prices were higher on Monday as the Saudi oil minister discussed a possible extension of a pact to cut global supplies beyond March 2018 with his Venezuelan and Kazakh counterparts.
WTI Crude rose 0.78% to US$47.85 a barrel while Brent Crude gained 0.46% to US$54.03 a barrel.
Petroleum stocks were mixed with Petronas Dagangan gaining eight sen to RM24.30 but Petronas Chemicals declining one sen to RM7.44 and Petronas Gas falling 16 sen to RM18.02. Petron Malaysia
rose 11 sen to RM9.52.
Top gainers on Bursa Malaysia included Nestle, which gained 56 sen to RM84.98, and Panasonic Malaysia, which rose 30 sen to RM38.80. Lotte Chemical Titan was also on investors' radar screen, putting on 27 sen to RM5.78.
Lafarge Malaysia was on the rise after CIMB Equities Research raised its target price to RM6.34 from RM5.50 due to better demand prospects. The counter was trading up 19 sen to RM6.14
"We maintain our Hold call as we expect the positive sentiment on the stock from better demand expectations in 2018 and stabilising competitive landscape to be mitigated by earnings risks in 2H17," it said in its Monday research note.
Rubber glove makers were among the decliners on Monday with Top Glove shaving off 11 sen to RM5.47 and Kossan dropping 10 sen to RM6.90. Hartalega was down 10 sen to RM6.80.
On the forex market, the ringgit was trading 0.1% weaker against the US dollar at 4.1995, 0.35% weaker against the pound sterling at 5.532 and 0.28% stronger against the Singapore dollar at 3.1271.
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