KUALA LUMPUR: Local equities rose on the lead of regional markets on Monday as trade tensions between the US and China eased after US Treasury Secretry Steven Mnuchin said the conflict was put "on hold" following an agreement to drop their tariff threats.
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was 7.72 points higher to 1,862.22. There were 1.52 billion shares traded with a value of RM1.19bil. Advancers outpaced decliners 463 to 360 with 329 counters unchanged.
Public Bank surged 82 sen to RM25.20 in morning trade, giving the index a 5.23-point lift. Nestle was another top gainer, rising RM2.80 to RM147.80.
Other banks showed mixed results with Maybank gaining four sen to RM19.86 and Ambank rising three sen to RM3.56, while CIMB dropped 15 sen to RM6.65, Hong Leong Bank slipped eight sen t oRM18.86 and RHB dipped two sen to RM5.42.
In plantations, Sime Darby Plantation
was up two sen to RM5.54, IOI rose five sen to RM4.80, KL Kepong gained 46 sen to RM25.06 and PPB moved four sen higher to RM20.02.
In the spotlight today, Cahya Mata Sarawak continued to slide after hitting limit down in Friday's session.
"CMS shares hit limit down last Friday, but management views the steep selldown
as mainly due to few factors – these include the BMF’s Fund’s offer to share information and DAP’s statement on road maintenance concessions in Sarawak," said RHB Research in its morning report.
On Monday, the stock exchange announced that proprietary day trading and intra-day short selling for the counter had been suspended after it slipped below the 15 sen or 15% limit.
By midday break, the stock was trading 66 sen lower at RM1.82.
Other counters that weighed in morning trade included Kossan, which fell 14 sen to RM7.21 and SP Setia, which dropped eight sen to RM3.18.
Among advancers, Allianze rose 80 sen to RM13.30, LPI Capital gained 42 sen to RM17.02 and Carlsberg moved 36 sen higher to RM20.56.
Oil prices rose on the positive developments over the US-China trade conflict. WTI crude gained 53 cents to US$71.81 a barrel while Brent crude put on 57 cents to US$79.08 a barrel.
In currencies, the ringgit continued to weaken against the US dollar at 3.9760. It firmed up 0.42% against the pound sterling at 5.3401 and rose marginally against the Singapore dollar at 2,9882.
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