KUALA LUMPUR: China's move to pull the yuan higher from 14-month lows are helping lift Asian markets on Monday
Reuters reported that the People's Bank of China raised the reserve requirement on foreign exchange forward positions last Friday, making it more expensive to bet against the Chinese currency.
Meanwhile, RHB Research maintains a positive technical outlook on the FBM KLCI given Friday's performance.
"The 'Bearish Engulfing' formation is still not confirmed yet – if it happens, it would mark the end of the rebound that began from the low of 1,655 pts on 28 June.
"We therefore advise traders to keep to long positions, initiated at 29 June’s close of 1,688.5 pts. To manage risks, a trailing-stop can be set at 1,766.5 pts," it said in its Monday pre-market open report.
At 9.10am, the FBM KLCI was 0.56 points higher at 1,780.65. Trading volume was 150.92 million shares with a value of RM65.55mil. There were 154 gainers versus 96 decliners and 208 counters unchanged.
Among actively traded counters, Vizione
rose half a sen to 14 sen, Frontken gained two sen to 58 sen while Kumpulan Perangsang Selangor dropped two sen to RM1.88.
MAHB was among the leading gainers in early trade, rising 15 sen to RM9.95. Meanwhile Serba Dinamik put on seven sen to RM3.95 and UMW climbed seven sen to RM6.05.
Gamuda slid in early trade following its suspension last Friday in light of Air Selangor's purchase offer for SPLASH. The counter dropped 11 sen to RM3.77.
Telekom gained fell nine sen to RM3.59 while MCT lost 6.5 sen to 70 sen.
Oil prices were on the rise as Saudi Arabia crude production dropped in July while US shale drilling was also showed to slow, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, markets are also anticipating a Washington announcement on Monday renewing US sanctions against major oil exporter Iran.
Brent crude oil futures were trading five cents higher at US$73.26 per barrel while US WTI crude futures rose 12 cents to US$68.61 a barrel.
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