KLCI holds on to gains, oil prices rise further

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI held on to gains from the previous session, rising 1.28 points to 1,780.38 points by midday. Turnover was 1.64 billion shares with a value of RM876mil. There were 330 advancers to 308 decliners with 519 counters unchanged.

Asian stocks extended gains on the last day of the trading calendar, having rallied to record highs in 2017 on strong corporate earnings, high commodity prices and low interest rates.

Back home, bank stocks continued to lift, led by Maybank, which added three sen to RM9.59. CIMB gained one sen to RM6.55 while Hong Leong Bank added six sen to RM17.06, Ambank put on two sen to RM4.39 and RHB gained seven sen to RM5.02.

Tenaga Nasional took a step back, slipping four sen to RM15.38 whole Petronas Chemicals shaved six sen to RM7.74. Petronas Gas also declined 14 sen to RM17.24. KLCI newcomer Nestle gained 70 sen to RM102.70.

Telcos were also laggards with Digi falling one sen to RM4.83 and Maxis dropping two sen to RM5.97. Axiata, however, gained two sen to RM5.42.

On the wider market, Hengyuan was on track to a happy new year, rising RM1.02 to RM18.98, while Petron Malaysia also rose 16 sen to RM14.76. F&N gained 22 sen to RM26.76.

Among the laggards, Hartalega saw profit taking, losing 28 sen to RM10.54 while Pharmaniaga slipped 26 sen to RM4.39 and Batu Kawan dropped 19 sen to RM19.70.

Oil markets saw price increases as news came that US inventories had fallen. WTI crude rose 43 cents to US$60.27 a barrel while Brent crude gained 42 cents to US$66.58 a barrel.

The ringgit also continued to strengthen into the year-end. The local currency rose 0.24% against the greenback at 4.0570, 0.20% against the pound sterling at 5.4609 and 0.13% against the Singapore dollar at 3.0358.