KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI ended its morning session slightly higher as Asian markets pulled up after US tax reform plans lifted Wall Street to new highs last night.
At 12.30pm, the local index was up 0.59 points to 1,759.68 points. Turnover was 1.32 billion shares with a value of RM821.61mil. There were 322 advancers versus 250 decliners with 515 counters unchanged.
Banking stocks were mixed on Friday with Maybank putting on one sen to RM9.55, CIMB gaining one sen to RM6.41, Public Bank losing six sen to RM20.50, while RHB was unchanged at RM5.15 and Hong Leong Bank unchanged at RM15.86.
Plantations counters were also mixed with IOI rising one sen to RM4.54, Sime Darby up one sen to RM9.05, KL Kepong losing four sen to RM24.74 and PPB unchanged at RM16.82.
In Petronas-related counters, Petronas Chemicals gained one sen to RM733, Petronas Dagangan rose four sen to RM24.30 and Petronas Gas was unchanged at RM18.10.
Among top gainers on Bursa Malaysia, Sunway-WB, which was listed on Bursa Malaysia on Thursday, gained 30 sen to 30.5 sen in morning trade while Chin Teck Plantations
rose 24 sen to RM7.79. Petron Malaysia put on 14 sen to RM11.32.
Decliners included Imaspro falling 13 sen to RM1.70, Magni-Tech Industries dropping 12 sen to RM7.08 and United Plantations falling eight sen to RM27.40
Another tropical storm headed for the Gulf of Mexixo had oil markets subdued on Friday but the possibility of extended oil production cuts by Opec and other oil producers helped to support prices, Reuters reported.
WTI Crude was down nine cents to US$50.70 a barrel while Brent Crude dropped eight cents to US$56.92 a barrel
On the forex market, the dollar held on to gains as US data helped reinforce sentiment that the economy will withstand higher interest rates.
The ringgit weakened 0.2% against the US dollar at 4.2368 but strengthened 0.58% against the pound sterling to 5.5457 and firmed up 0.15% against the Singapore dollar at 3.0999.
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