KUALA LUMPUR: Petronas-linked stocks and Digi helped the FBM KLCI to scale to the highest since July 2014 on Tuesday but investors needed more convincing to put their money into the equities market as foreign funds and retail investors were net sellers.
At 5pm, the KLCI was up 1.73 points or 0.09% to 1,880.49, the highest since July 17, 2014's close of 1,883. The broader market was slightly firmer with 506 gainers, 424 losers and 394 counters unchanged. Turnover was 3.09 billion shares valued at RM2.79bil.
Local institutions were net buyers at RM97.1mil while local retailers were net sellers at RM29mil and foreign funds also turned net sellers at RM68.1mil.
China and Hong Kong markets were under pressure after the US banned American companies from selling components to Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE Corp, Reuters reported.
The blue-chip CSI300 index closed down 1.6% at 3,748.64, its lowest since August 2017, while the Shanghai Composite Index dropped 1.4% to 3,066.80, its lowest closing level since May 2017.
The Hang Seng index ended down 0.8% at 30,062.75, while the China Enterprises Index closed 0.9% lower at 11,900.48.
The ringgit weakened against several key currencies. It shed 0.03% against the US dollar at 3.8890 and lost 0.39% to the pound sterling at 5.5709 and was down 0.17% to the euro at 4.8160 and losr 0.15% to the Singapore dollar at 2.9691.
US light crude oil edged up 13 cents to US$66.35 and Brent added 15 cents to US$71.57. Petronas Gas jumped 54 sen to RM18.54 and nudged the KLCI up 1.92 points, Petronas Dagangan gained 70 sen to RM26.78 and Petronas Chemicals six sen higher at RM8.51.
Refiners Hengyuan lost 51 sen to RM8.74 and Petron 35 sen lower at RM8.50.
Digi rose 10 sen to RM4.64 and pushed the KLCI up 1.39 points, Axiata eked out a one sen gain to RM5.44, Maxis shed one sen to RM5.79 while Telekom gave up most of the previous day's gains to fall 13 sen to RM5.50.
Press Metal
rose 16 sen to RM4.99, riding on the firmer aluminium prices. London aluminum prices for three months delivery jumped US$114 or 4.99% to US$2,399 per tonne.
Bursa added 20 sen to RM7.45 as investors were upbeat about its earnings. Genting Bhd rose nine sen to RM9, Tenaga was flat at RM15.94, IHH shed one sen to RM6.09 while Genting Malaysia skidded 18 sen to RM5.12 and wiped out 1.92 points from the KLCI.
Nestle fell the most, down RM1.10 to RM148, BAT 34 sen lower at RM23 and Dutch Lady 18 sen lower at RM67.18.
As for semicon-related stocks, burn-in tester KESM fell 54 sen to RM17.80 and Globetronics 24 sen to RM4.33.
Among the banks, CIMB added six sen to RM7.30, Maybank and RHB Bank two sen higher to RM10.62 and RM5.40, Hong Leong shed two sen to RM18.86, AmBank fell five sen to RM3.95 and Public Bank six sen lower at RM23.98.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery rose RM19 to RM2,388 per tonne. PPB Group added four sen to RM18.64, KL Kepong fell four sen to RM25.54, IOI Corp shed two sen to RM4.77.
Sime Plantation lost four sen to RM5.60, Sime Darby unchanged at RM2.78 and Sime Property one sen lower at RM1.38.
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