KUALA LUMPUR: Market sentiment perked up in the last hour of trade on Monday as funds picked up IHH Healthcare, Maxis, Petronas Dagangan and Public Bank and pushed the FBM KLCI slightly over the crucial 1,700 level.
At 5pm, the KLCI was up 6.11 points of 0.36% to 1,701.99, tracking the better key Asian markets. Turnover was 1.74 billion shares valued at RM1.41bil. There were 354 gainers, 452 losers and 383 counters unchanged.
Except for China, all the other key Asian markets advanced. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped 1.73%, South Korea's up 1.24%, Singapore's STI up 1.34% but Shanghai's Composite fell 0.14%.
At Bursa, IHH was the biggest mover among the KLCI stocks as its gain of 13 sen to RM4.93 pushed the index up 1.92 points. Tenaga Nasional added six sen to RM14.86 and Hartalega
four sen to RM6.30.
US light crude oil rose 83 cents to US$51.25 and Brent gained US$1.22 to US$60.02.
Petronas Dagangan rose 78 sen to RM27.68 and it was the biggest gainer of the day and nusged the KLCI up 1.38 points. Petronas Chemical gained four sen to RM9.26 but Petronas Gas fell eight sen to RM18.74. Dialog was up 11 sen to RM3.29.
As for telcos, Maxis gained 12 sen to RM5.43 and nudged the KLCI up 1.68 points, Axiata added four sen to RM3.45 but Telekom and Digi shed one sen each to RM2.32 and RM4.20
AirAsia rose 16 sen to RM3.05 on expectations of a special dividend.
As for banks, Public Bank added 14 sen to RM24.94, CIMB five sen to RM5.68, Maybank three sen to RM9.45 but RHB Bank shed one sen to RM5.19 while Hong Leong Bank shed eight sen to RM20.60.
A slump in crude palm oil (CPO) prices for the third month delivery by RM40 to RM2,004 saw Sime Plantation falling 12 sen to RM5.06 and erasing 1.46 points, KL Kepong 22 sen lower at RM24.68, IOI Corp eight sen to RM4.23 and PPB Group eight sen lower also at RM16.96.
Chip players recovered with Pentamaster up 12 sen to RTM3.25 and MPI 10 sen higher at RM11.34 but Dufu fell 14 sen to RM3.48.
The ringgit gained strength against the key currencies. It rose 0.1% to the US dollar to 4.1865 and gained 0.15% against the pound sterling to 5.3792 and rose 0.12% against the euro to 4.7656. It eked out a 0.01% gain against the Singapore dollar to 3.0519.
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