KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips notched slight gains with Petronas Gas and Genting Bhd
underpinning the mild rebound of the FBM KLCI on Thursday while the ringgit advanced.
The ringgit rallied against the US dollar and other key currencies as Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) monetary policy committee signalled a possible interest rate hike.
At 5pm, the KLCI was up 2.61 points or 0.15% to 1,746.81. Turnover rose to 3.09 billion shares valued at RM2.34bil. There were 399 gainers, 398 losers and 479 counters unchanged.
The ringgit climbed 0.37% against the US dollar to 4.2135 – the strongest since Sept 26 – while it climbed 0.43% against the pound sterling to 5.5302. It increased by 0.18% versus the Singapore dollar at 3.0953 while it advanced 0.33% against the euro at 4.8877.
Oil prices steadied just below two-year highs on Thursday, supported by supply cuts by Opec and other major exporters including Russia.
Benchmark Brent crude oil fell 15 cents to US$63.34 and US light crude slipped seven cents to US$56.74, not too far off this week's more than two-year high of US$57.69 a barrel.
Petronas Gas rose 64 sen to RM17.70 and pushed the KLCI up 2.15 points, Petronas Dagangan fell 30 sen to RM21.44 while there was some profit taking on Petronas Chemicals, sliding seven sen to RM7.40.
Petronas Chemicals' earnings in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2017 rose 2.4% to RM913mil from RM891mil a year ago, underpinned by the fertilisers and methanol segment.
As for refiners, Hengyuan climbed 59 sen to RM9.88 and Petron 54 sen to RM12.74.
BAT was the top gainer, rebounding by RM1.50 to RM39.86 while Ajinomoto added 26 sen to RM18.76, while Heineken lost 32 sen to RM18.60 and Kawan Foods 11 sen lower at RM2.98.
Among the heavyweights, Genting Bhd gained 31 sen to RM9.48 and added 2.03 points to the KLCI, Genting Malaysia fell three sen to RM5.15, IHH Healthcare five sen lower at RM5.64 while Tenaga Nasional was flat at RM14.90.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery fell RM3 to RM2,817 per tonne. United Plantations added 26 sen to RM27.76, KL Kepong rose 10 sen to RM24.78, IOI Corp edged up one sen to RM4.47, Sime Darby was flat at RM9.06, while PPB Group fell eight sen to RM16.70.
As for banks, AmBank rose four sen to RM4.38, CIMB three sen hiugher at RM6.21, Maybank one sen up to RM9.16, Hong Leong Bank and RHB Bank fell two sen each to RM15.96 and RM4.90.
Among the telcos, Digi shed two sen to RM4.87 while Maxis, Axiata and Telekom eased one sen each to RM6, RM5.44 and RM6.15 respectively.
MPI fell the most, down 40 sen to RM13.80 as investors were wary the rally in the share price was ahead of its earnings. PMB Tech fell 12 sen to RM4.73 and Willowglen 10 sen to RM1.08.
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