KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI moved higher in Tuesday morning trade as Asian markets tracked record closes on all three major indexes on Wall Street last night.
At 12.30pm, the local index was up 2.81 points to 1,757.59 points. Turnover was 1.14 billion shares with a value of RM862.18mil. Decliners beat advancers 288 to 256 with 481 counters unchanged.
Japan's Nikkei hit another two-year high, up 0.9% to 20,582.26 points, at midday as a weaker yen helped to bolster investor sentiment. Chinese markets remained closed on Tuesday for the Golden Week Holidays.
Back home, the KLCI was buoyed by Genting Malaysia, which rose 21 sen to RM5.51 adding 2.05 points to the index.
Another notable gainer was Hong Leong Finance, up 14 sen to RM16.64
Banking stocks were mixed with CIMB rising one sen to RM6.35, Ambank up five sen to RM4.45 and RHB up one sen to RM5.05. Hong Leong Bank was down two sen to RM15.84, Maybank was unchanged at RM9.55 and Public Bank was also unchanged at RM20.58.
Plantation players include IOI, unchanged at RM4.53, KL Kepong up 10 sen to RM24.72, Sime Darby up one sen to RM9.01, PPB down one sen to RM16.80 and Hap Seng Consolidated unchanged at RM9.08
Among telcos, Maxis was up one sen to RM5.82, Axiata up three sen to RM5.28, Telekom down four sen to RM6.26 and Digi unchanged at RM4.91.
Oil and gas players include Petronas Chemicals down one sen to RM7.29, Petronas Dagangan up two sen to RM24.24 and Petronas Gas up six sen to RM17.96.
In construction, IJM was down two sen to RM3.29
RHB Investment Research has initiated coverage on Petron Malaysia
Refining & Marketing with a Buy call as it views the company's refinery as an advantage over its rival fuel retailers. In morning trade, the counter was up 20 sen to RM10.64.
Lotte Chemicals Titan has made a rebound following losses in yesterday's session as it was hit with a stop-work order from the Environmental Department. The counter rose 12 sen on Tuesday morning trade to RM5.10
Oil prices declined on Tuesday amid signs that a global glut in crude may not be clearing as quickly as some had hopes, Reuters reported. WTI Crude was down 13 cents to US$50.46 while Brent Crude dropped 21 cents to US$55.91.
On the forex market, the ringgit was 0.15% weaker against the US dollar at 4.2407 and 0.32% stronger against the pound sterling at 5.6204 and 0.44% stronger against the Singapore dollar at 3.1054.
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