KUALA LUMPUR: The local market pushed ahead on Tuesday as regional equity rose on bargain-hunting although continued trade tensions put a cap on the recovery.
The FBM KLCI gained 7.58 points to 1,787.33. Trading volume continued to drag at 1.33 billion shares worth a value of RM865.8mil. There were 443 gainers versus 293 decliners and 376 counters unchanged.
Stocks on the benchmark index were overwhelmingly positive. IHH Healthcare was the biggest winner in the morning session, gaining 11 sen to RM5.97.
Petronas Gas gained 36 sen to RM18.98, and Maxis climbed seven sen to RM5.69.
CIMB led banking stocks higher with a three sen gain to RM5.93. Maybank put on two sen to RM9.89, Public Bank added four sen to RM24.30 and Hong Leong Bank rose six sen to RM19.20. RHB bucked the trend by slipping one sen to RM5.45.
Other decliners included MAHB dropping 35 sen to RM9.45, Sime Darby trimming four sen to RM2.53 and Dialog cutting one sen to RM3.37.
On the broader market Far East Holdings climbed 70 sen to RM13.20, BAT added 44 sen to RM34.22 and BLD Plantation
gained 34 sen to RM7.40.
On the losing end of things, Padini slid 23 sen to RM5.97, SPB lost 10 sen to RM4.12 and Time dotCom dropped eight sen to RM8.20.
In oil markets, prices rose ahead of renewed US sanctions against major crude oil exporter Iran. WTI crude gained four cents to US$69.05 a barrel while Brent crude gained 18 cents to US$73.93 a barrel.
On the forex market, the ringgit edged lower against the US dollar to 4.0832. It strengthened slightly against the pound sterling at 5.2872 and was unchanged against the Singapore dollar at 2.9844.
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