ong Leong Bank was the top gainer and its 44-sen gain to RM20.94 added 1.71 points to the KLCI.
KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips closed at their highest on Tuesday as funds picked up Hong Leong Bank and CIMB but overall trading volume declined sharply from the previous day.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI was up 8.1 points or 0.47% to 1,736.84. Turnover was 1.53 billion shares valued at RM1.61bil. In terms of volume, turnover shrank by 24.6% from Monday's 2.03 billion units.
Decliners led advancers four to three or 439 losers to 339 gainers and 407 counters were unchanged.
On the external front, key Asian markets were mostly higher, with Jakarta up 1.28%, Nikkei 225 up 1.25% and Kospi 1.76% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index eked out 0.07%. However, China's CSI 300 lost 0.81% and Shanghai Composite Index 0.85% lower.
Hong Leong Bank was the top gainer and its 44-sen gain to RM20.94 added 1.71 points to the KLCI. CIMB added 10 sen to RM6.03 and nudged the KLCI up 1.68 points while RHB Bank rose three sen to RM5.33. Public Bank was flat at RM24.98 and Maybank shed three sen to RM9.55.
MISC saw some firm buying inteest, climbing 13 sen to RM5.68 and giving the KLCI a 0.96 of a point boost, IHH rose five sen to RM5.15, Genting Bhd
10 sen to RM7.26 and Tenaga four sen to RM14.62.
As for oil and gas stocks, Petronas Gas rose 12 sen to RM18.36, Dialog gained nine sen to RM3.41, Petronas Daganagan added six sen to RM26.26 and Petronas Chemical was flat at RM9.40.
Oil prices fell on Tuesday on evidence of higher US oil production and increasing US crude inventories, but reports of a fall in Iranian oil exports helped limit losses, Reuters reported.
Brent crude was down 50 cents a barrel at US$80.28 by 0900 GMT. U.S. light crude was 50 cents lower at US$71.28.
Among glove makers, Top Glove rose 38 sen to RM11.60 after its strong results and outlook.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery was flat at RM2,242 per tonne.
IOI Corp rose four sen to RM4.53 and lifted the KLCI up 0.45 of a point, PPB Group and KL Kepoing gained four sen each also to RM16.94 and RM24.92.
Sime Plantation was up two sen to RM5.20, Sime Darby and Sime Property flat at RM2.59 and RM1.
As for telcos, Maxis fell four sen to RM5.47, Telekom and Digi rose one sen each to RM2.58 and RM4.40 while Axiata was unchanged at RM3.90 and Maxis four sen lower at RM5.47.
BAT fell RM1.78 to RM33.22 on expectations of a hike in duty while Carlsberg lost RM1.24 to RM17.26 and Heineken 86 sen to RM17.62.
Dutch Lady lost RM1 to RM63.30, Ajinomoto 48 sen to RM20.38, F&N 20 sen to RM36.02 and Nestle 20 sen to RM144.80.
The ringgit rose against the greenback and Singapore dollar. It rose 0.03% to 4.1535 to the US dollar, and eked out a 0.02% gain to the Singapore unit.
However, it weakened 0.42% against the pound sterling to 5.4824 and shed 0.06 to the euro at 4.8131.
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