KUALA LUMPUR: Consumer stocks continued their strong performance on Tuesday, with Nestle – which is part of the FBM KLCI – surging to fresh record high, and other stocks riding on the bullish sentiment.
At 5pm, the KLCI was up 2.81 points or 0.15% to 1,864.03. Turnover was steady at 2.29 billion shares valued at RM2.08bil. The broader market was slightly cautious with decliners beating advanced five to four or 511 losers to 402 gainers and 423 counters unchanged.
Foreign funds continued to be net buyers for the second day this week. They were net buyers at RM112.9mil while local institutions were net sellers at RM115.7mil and retailers RM7.2mil.
Nestle rose RM6.90 to RM157.40 – a fresh high again with rising volume of 330,400 shares done. It pushed the KLCI up 2.9 points.
Foreign funds were seen picking up shares of the company whose share price has surged from RM101 in early January or 55.4%.
Dutch Lady
gained RM3.44 to RM71.14, Ajinomoto RM1.64 to RM24.30, F&N RM1.20 to RM32.90 and Heineken 76 sen higher at RM22.98.
Among the banks, Public Bank and Hong Leong Bank rose 34 sen each to RM23 and RM19.02. AmBank added 12 sen to RM4.19, RHB Bank four sen to RM5.35, Maybank was flat at RM10.44 while CIMB shed two sen to RM7.25.
Petronas Chemical rose seven sen to RM8.15, Petronas Gas 10 sen higher at RM17.90 while Petronas Dagangan fell 14 sen to RM24.72.
As for telcos, Maxis fell nine sen to RM5.89 and erased 1.26 points from the KLCI, Telekom shed two sen to RM5.71 while Axiata and Digi were flat at RM5.45 and RM4.75.
Genting Malaysia and Genting Bhd fell seven sen each to RM5.23 and RM8.92.
Sime Plantation rose four sen RM5.60 and Sime Darby one sen higher at RM2.65 while Sime Property gained four sen to RM1.41.
Among the plantations, Batu Kawan rose 20 sen to RM18.50, PPB Group six sen higher at RM18.32 while IOI Corp and KL Kepong were two sen higher at RM4.87 and RM25.42.
Berjaya Auto jumped 14 sen to RM2.16 on stronger financial results.
Top Glove, which is expected to announce its result on Thursday, rose 22 sen to RM9.90.
Maybank Investment Bank Research foresees Top Glove's upcoming second quarter earnings could be flattish on-quarter and within expectations.
However, organic volume growth ahead could be slower as China resumes production gradually and Malaysian players expand capacity.
“However, earnings growth could accelerate from 4QFY18 with contribution from Aspion,” Maybank Research said.
Sapura Energy fell to a fresh record low, down 1.5 sen to 45 sen with 78.20 million shares done.
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