KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips bounced back on Wednesday on fund buying of banks and Genting stocks but the FBM KLCI was unable to close above the key 1,750 level.
At 5pm, the KLCI was up 9.68 points or 0.56% to 1,746.63, managing to recoup most of the previous day's losses as foreign funds took profit. Its intra-day high was 1,751.
Turnover was 2.53 billion shares valued at RM2.26bil. There were 444 gainers, 465 losers and 492 counters unchanged.
On the external front, key Asian markets were mostly lower except for Japan and Taiwan. Hong Kong, China and South Korea closed in the red. Hong Kong stocks dipped slightly on Wednesday as weakness in financial and IT stocks offset strength in property and utility plays.
Glove makers Hartalega
and Top Glove rose to fresh record highs. Hartalega rose 68 sen to RM11.40 and Top Glove was up 57 sen to RM8.05.
Chip and technology stocks MPI, Vitrox and Globetronics were among the top gainers. MPI climbed 48 sen to RM12.50, Vitrox 30 sen to RM6.40 and Globetronics 25 sen higher at RM6.48.
US light crude oil rose 16 cents to US$57.72 and Brent fell seven cents to US$63.73.
Refiners were also on the top gainers list with Hengyuan up 42 sen to RM14.40 and Petron 36 sen higher at RM13.24.
Petronas Dagangan was flat at RM24.38, Petronas Gas two sen lower at RM16.38 and Petronas Chemicals one sen down to RM7.48. Sapura Energy fell 1.5 sen to a fresh record low of 72 sen with 66 million shares done.
As for banks and finance stocks, HLFG was the top gainer, up 24 sen to RM17.52. However, CIMB powered the KLCI up 3.76 points when it rose 23 sen to RM6.48 while Public Bank added 22 sen to RM20.72 and pushed the KLCI up 1.5 points.
Maybank added one sen to RM9.50, AmBank fell one sen to RM4.34, RHB Bank four sen lower at RM4.95 and Hong Leong lost 14 sen to RM16.72.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery fell RM14 to RM2,507 per tonne. United Plantations fell 40 sen to RM27.80, Batu Kawan 38 sen lower at RM19.50 and Far East 22 sen down to RM8.78.
However, IOI Corp added seven sen to RM4.41, PPB Group two sen higher at RM16.98, KL Kepong fell four sen to RM24.52.
Sime Plantation climbed 12 sen to RM5.42 and pushed the KLCI up 1.45 points, Sime Darby one sen higher at RM2.06 while Sime Property fell three sen to RM1.40.
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