Bursa picks up in morning trade, toll operators in the spotlight

KUALA LUMPUR: The local market moved higher on Friday morning with sustained buying interest from local institutions. 

Highway toll concessionaires were put under the spotlight on news that there would be an announcement on toll charges as early as next week in light of the new ruling government's promise to abolish toll collection in its pre-election manifesto

Leading losers for the morning session included Litrak dropping 76 sen to 4.38 and Gamuda falling 24 sen to RM4.09.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was 4.30 points higher at 1,858.74. There were 1.46 billion shares traded with a value of RM1.22bil. Decliners outpaced advancers 503 to 310 and 343 counters were unchanged. 

Genting Malaysia lifted with a 17 sen gain to RM5.40 while Maxis put on seven sen to RM5.74 and Petronas Gas rose 26 sen to RM18.10.

Banks were mixed with Public Bank adding on six sen to RM24.40, Hong Leong Bank gaining 10 sen to RM19 and Ambank rising six sen to RM3.56 while CIMB slid one sen to RM6.80, and RHB lost two sen to RM5.44. 

In telcos, Axiata rose one sen to RM5.18 while Digi gained four sen to RM4.75.

Nestle resumed its uptrend, rising RM1.30 to RM143.40, while the US-China tariffs conflict continued to weigh on Press Metal, which lost 21 sen to RM4.75.

On the broader market, consumer stock Dutch Lady put on 70 sen to RM70, Carlsberg added 70 sen to RM20.32 and F&N rose 34 sen to RM36.98.

Decliners included Lotte Chemicals Titan, sliding 15 sen to RM5.05, Perstim shaving 20 sen to RM3.63 and Eng Kah losing 16 sen to RM1.34.

Oil prices retained slightly below the multi-year highs achieved the previous day but remained elevated by the looming US sanctions against Iran.

WTI crude rose 10 cents to US$71.59 a barrel while Brent crude added 20 cents to US$79.50 a barrel.

In currencies, the ringgit continued its slide against the greenback as US bond yields showed so sign of abating. The local currency weakened 0.18% against the US dollar to 3.9767 and 0.04% against the pound sterling at 5.3715. It was little changed against the Singapore dollar at 2.9604.