KUALA LUMPUR: After a volatile month of May which saw foreign funds hammer down the stock market, blue chips eked out some gains early Friday with Public Bank and MISC lifting the FBM KLCI.
At 9.15am, the KLCI was up 8.07 points or 0.46% to 1,748.69. Turnover was 301.02 million shares valued at RM139.44mil. There were 144 gainers, 179 losers and 202 counters unchanged.
Asian equities sagged as worries about US trade policy hit global financial markets, which were already shaken this week by political turmoil in Italy, Reuters reported.
Wall Street shares posted deep losses overnight after the US said it would impose tariffs on aluminium and steel imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.08%.
On the outlook for the KLCI, Kenanga Research said that overall, the technical picture of the 30-stock index remains negative following recent heavy sell-down.
It said the key SMAs are currently in a “Death Cross” state while the MACD indicator also continues to the downtrend.
“From here, investors may look to buy on dips at 1,700 (S1). However, a decisive break below this level would be extremely negative, potentially triggering a capitulation towards lower support at 1,655 (S2).
“Conversely, immediate resistances can be identified at 1,750 (R1) and 1,780 (R2),” it said.
Public Bank rose 20 sen to RM24.06, MAHB and MISC 13 sen higher at RM8.46 and RM6 while IOI Corp added 12 sen to RM4.75.
Perstima jumped 28 sen to RM4.08, Carlsberg 18 sen to RM20.04, Top Glove and TimeCom 14 sen higher at RM10.40 and RM7.64 while Edaran jumped 13.5 sen to 52.5 sen.
Opcom’s stronger results saw it advance five sen to 73.5 sen and Thriven three sen to 38 sen.
KESM skidded RM1.70 to RM15.10, Nestle 90 sen to RM147.10, UliCorp 16 sen to RM1.50 and Padini 14 sen lower at RM5.60.
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