KUALA LUMPUR: The local bourse returned to a positive performance on Friday following the previous session's mild pullback as the announcement of earnings results from Corporate Malaysia picked up pace.
At 12.30pm, the local benchmark index was up 2.71 points to 1,857.78 points. Tunrover was 2.15 billion shares with a value of RM1.09 bil. There were 308 decliners to 2798 advancers and 660 counters unchanged.
Public Bank led gains on Friday morning on the back of its postive earnings result released yesterday. It gained 28 sen to RM22.56, adding 1.78 points to the FBM KLCI.
IHH Healthcare also put on eight sen to RM6.07, ahead of its fourth quarter earnings announcement next Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Sime Darby Plantation
put on four sen to RM5.54, rebounding from a three sen loss in the previous session. Sime Darby also rose on the back of its earnings result, gaining two sen to RM2.77.
Nestle also continued to expand, rising RM1.40 to RM122.90.
Some decliners on the 30-stock index included Maxis, which lost seven sen to RM6.01; Genting Malaysia, which dropped seven sen to RM5.30; and Petronas Gas, which shaved 16 sen to RM17.80.
On the wider market, Innoprise Plantations surged 15.5 sen to RM1.04, Innity jumped 13 sen to 70 sen and George Kent gained 12 sen to RM4.24.
Declining counters included Petron Malaysia, falling 44 sen to RM11.56; MSC, shaving 27 sen to RM3.15; and Unisem dropping 17 sen to RM2.78.
Oil prices dipped slightly as US exports dragged its net imports to a record low. WTI crude slipped two cents to US$62.75 a barrel while Brent crude slid five cents to US$66.34 a barrel.
In currencies, the ringgit firmed up 0.24% to 3.9075 against the US dollar. It also strengthened 0.16 against the Singapore dollar at 2.9847 but fell 0.13% against the pound sterling at 5.4511.
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