KLCI tracks global rebound, sees thin volume

KUALA LUMPUR: The local bourse continued its rebound on muted trading volume as investors tracked global sentiment but remained on the sidelines as the general election drew near.

Asian stocks recovered as Wall Street rose on solid corporate earnings, while the easing of tensions on the geopolitical front between the two Koreas helped improve sentiment.

At 12.30pm the FBM KLCI was up 8.82 points to 1,861.09. TUrnover was 884.6 million shares with a value of RM739.91mil. There was an almost equal number of gainers and decliners, 319 to 313, with 363 counters unchanged.

Banking heavyweights helped to lift the benchmark index. Maybank rose eight sen to RM10.76, while Public Bank gained 18 sen to RM23.90 and CIMB added three sen to RM7.23.

Hong Leong Bank was the only Top 4 bank to slide, slipping two sen to RM5.78, while RHB remained unchanged at RM5.31.

Tenaga Nasional also put on weight, rising 12 sen to RM15.96, while Petronas Chemicals gained six sen to RM8.47.

Meanwhile, Nestle halted a steep slide over the previous three sessions to put on RM2 to RM138.50

Telco providers, however, were on the slide with Axiata losing three sen to RM5.13, Maxis slipping two sen to RM5.78 and DIgi slipping one sen to RM4.56.

Oil prices slipped back on Friday but Brent remained on track to a third week of gains amid continued expectations that Iran will soon face US sanctions. 

WTI crude fell 23 cents to US$67.96 a barrel while Brent crude dropped 26 cents to US$74.48 a barrel.

In commodities, the ringgit slipped slightly against the greenback to 3.9205, 0.15% against the pound sterling at 5.4598 and 0.13% against the Singapore dollar at 2.9554.