KUALA LUMPUR: Retail investors turned up in force to buy key stocks including Public Bank and Axiata and enabled the FBM KLCI to post a solid rebound after the recent battering.
However, the gains were not enough for it to close above the key 1,800 level.
Stock market data showed retail investors were net buyers at RM106.3mil while local instituytions were net sellers at RM26.1mil and foreign funds net sellers at RM80.2mil.
At 5pm, the KLCI was up 21.74 points or 1.22% to 1,797.40. Turnover was 2.20 billion shares valued at RM2.95bil. There 506 gainers, 397 losers and 407 counters unchanged.
The Malaysian stock market is expected to bounce back as risk appetite picks up in the coming months resulting from the Pakatan Harapan led Federal Government's greater transparency, governance and clarity on the direction of the economy, says AmBank Economic Research.
The ringgit slipped against the US dollar, dipping 0.04% to 3.9813 and fell 0.21% against the Singapore dollar to 2.9745. However, the ringgit rose 0.27% against the pound sterling to 5.3241 and advanced 0.06% to the euro to 4.6681.
Most key Asian markets ended Friday in the red. China's major stock indexes fell on Friday to post their worst week in more than one month, as sentiment soured after US President Donald Trump called off a planned June meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Reuters reported.
The blue-chip CSI300 index fell 0.3% to 3,816.50, while the Shanghai Composite Index ended down 0.4% at 3,141.30.
At Bursa, Public Bank rebounded with a 56 sen gain to RM24.92 and pushed the KLCI up 3.89 points. CIMB rose seven sen to RM6.12, AmBank four sen to RM3.58 while Maybank, RHB Bank and Hong Leong Bank were unchanged at RM10.26, RM5.35 and RM19 respectively.
As for telcos, a rebound in Axiata by 22 sen to RM4.52 nudged the index up 3.56 points. Telekom gained four sen to RM4.01, Maxis added three sen to RM5.79 but Digi shed four sen to RM4.51.
Genting Malaysia ended the day 29 sen higher at RM5.22 and nudged the KLCI up 3.08 points while Genting Bhd
gained 26 sen higher at RM8.70.
Power giant Tenaga rose 28 sen to RM15.04 and powered the KLCI up 2.84 points while IHH was up eight sen to RM6.26.
US light crude oil fell US$1.47 to US$69.24 and Brent was down US$1.92 to US$76.87.
Saudi Arabia and Russia are discussing raising OPEC and non-OPEC oil output by around 1 million barrels per day (bpd), easing 17 months of strict supply curbs amid concerns that a price rally has gone too far, Reuters reported.
Petronas Dagangan fell 14 sen to RM25.22 and Petronas Chemical shed two sen to RM8.32 but Petronas Gas gained 18 sen to RM18.02.
Dialog rebounded 28 sen to RM3.50 after the recent selldown. Uzma fell 16 sen to RM1.
MyEG Services was the most active with 106.39 million shares done, falling three sen to 76.5 sen. The counter had been battered over the past two weeks following its links to the previous government.
AirAsia closed one sen down to RM3.22 in active trade.
Heveaboard-WB fell 22.5 sen to 55.5 sen and HeaveaBoard lost 17 sen to 80 sen after its weaker results.
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