KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips rallied on Wednesday on strong fund buying of Public Bank, Axiata and CIMB as investors took heart from the latest measures taken by the new federal government to tighten spending, review mega projects and putting the economy on stronger spending.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI was up 21.99 points or 1.25% to 1,777.13. Turnover was 3.50 billion shares valued at RM3.02bil. The broader market was firmer with 716 gainers, 267 losers and 374 counters unchanged.
Analysts said the heavy foreign selling over the past five weeks since the May 9 General Election may have eased and there was some bottom-fishing of construction stocks, banks and telcos.
On the external front, Reuters reported Hong Kong shares ended higher, clocking a fifth straight session of gains, with investors keeping an eye on the latest developments in Sino-US trade talks.
At Bursa, Public Bank rose 98 sen to RM25 and powered the KLCI up 6.80 points, CIMB added 13 sen to RM6.21 while RHB Bank gained 11 sen to RM5.61 and Hong Leong Bank 18 sen higher at RM19.30.
However, AmBank shed two sen to RM3.79 while Maybank lost six sen to RM9.59 and erased 1.17 points.
As for telcos, Axiata climbed 23 sen to RM4.65 and gave the index a 3.72 point boost with Digi up seven sen to RM4.54, Telekom gained 12 sen to RM3.73 but Maxis fell two sen to RM5.79.
Astro
jumped 23 sen to RM1.83 on hopes that tycoon T. Ananda Krishnan, who controls a 40.9% stake in pay-TV operator Astro Malaysia via his private vehicle Usaha Tegas, would take it private.
However, UOB Kay Hian Malaysia Research said the privatisation would require onerous finances.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery fell RM7 to RM2,395 per tonne. IOI Corp rose seven sen to RM4.70, PPB Group eight sen higher at RM19.88 and KL Kepong two sen to RM24.92.
Sime Plantation lost 11 sen to RM5.37 and erased 1.33 points from the KLCI. However, Sime Darby added five sen to RM2.47 while Sime Property gained three sen to RM1.26.
Genting Malaysia climbed 17 sen to RM5.22, YTL Corp rose five sen to RM1, Tenaga was flat at RM14.36 and Genting Bhd five sen lower at RM8.80.
Lafarge rose 32 sen to RM3.26 on the possibility that its contract to supply cement to the East Coast Rail Link project would not be cancelled due to the advanced stage but slimmed down.
US light crude oil fell 27 cents to US$65.25 but Brent rose 12 cents to US$75.50.
Petronas Gas rose 32 sen to RM18.42, Petronas Dagangan added 10 sen to RM24.80 and Petronas Chemical five sen higher at RM8.35.
Among the refiners, Hengyuan rose 49 sen to RM7.06 and Petron 30 sen higher at RM8.41.
As for consumer stocks, BAT added 80 sen to RM35.50, Dutch Lady fell 50 sen to RM67, Ajinomoto 44 sen to RM22.06 while Carlsberg and Heinken lost 22 sen each to RM20.04 and RM23.78.
The ringgit weakened against the key currencies. It shed 0.03% to the US dollar to 3.9743 and fell 0.26% to the pound sterling at 5.3272 and lost 0.28% against the euro at 4.6645. It eased 0.09% to 2.9799.
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