KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia joined other key Asian markets to close on a firm note on Monday, setting the tone for a more hopeful December, as all eyes were on the 90-day truce in the US-China trade war.
The FBM KLCI closed up 19.86 points or 1.18% to 1,699.72. Turnover was 2.52 billion shares valued at RM2.29bil. There were 568 gainers, 338 losers and 327 counters unchanged.
The jump in the KLCI saw it recouping more than last Friday's losses of more than 16 points.
On the external front, China stocks surged and the yuan posted its best gain in nearly three years after Chinese and US leaders agreed to a temporary truce in their trade war, but the long-term outlook for trade relations and Chinese markets remains murky, Reuters reported.
The deal between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping postponed the most pressing threat to the global and Chinese economies -- a sharp hike in US tariffs that had been slated for Jan. 1.
The Shanghai Composite jumped 2.57%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index 2.55%, Japan's Nikkei 225 1%,Taiwan's Taiex 2.53% while Singapore's STI rallied 2.34%.
Bloomberg estimated this 90-day truce worth in Asian stock markets was roughly US$315bil, on Monday at least. That’s how much market value got added to companies in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index as the gauge rallied 1.9%.
At Bursa, Axiata rose 32 sen to RM3.95 and pushed the KLCI up 5.16 points, Maxis and Telekom added nine sen each to RM5.52 and RM2.42 while Digi advanced five sen to RM4.29.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery tumbled RM40 to RM2,000 per tonne.
Sime Plantation rebounded 24 sen to RM4.94 and added 2.9 points to the index. IOI Corp gained five sen to RM4.30, KL Kepong was flat at RM24.50 but PPB Group gave up most of last week's gains, falling 60 sen to RM17 and erasing 1.52 points.
Genting Bhd
rose 31 sen to RM6.59 and added 2.14 points to the KLCI. Genting Malaysia added five sen to RM2.91.
CIMB Equities Research said Genting Malaysia’s nine months core net profit at 72% of full-year forecasts was within the market and its expectations as it projects a stronger 4Q. This was despite GentingM was hit by a RM1.896bil impairment for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe promissory notes.
Sime Darby added 15 sen to RM2.44, Tenaga six sen RM14.30, MAHB 10 sen to RM7.77 while IHH was flat at RM5.37.
As for banks, CIMB gained 14 sen to RM5.90, HL Bank added 24 sen to RM20.62, Maybank four sen to RM9.43, RHB Bank five sen to RM5.30 but Public Bank fell four sen to RM24.88.
Chip makers and tech-related stocks were among the top gainers. MPI jumped 92 sen to RM10.92 and KESM 60 sen to RM8.63.
Bumi Armada rose 3.5 sen to 19.5 sen with 318.54 million shares done after last week's heavy selling that saw it hitting fresh lows.
The company announced at midday its CEO had issued an internal memo on Nov 27 about its efforts to reduce cash flow and limit efforts to pursue new work, which had sparked off the selling pressure.
Bumi Armada also told Bursa Securities that in its third quarterly report for the period ended Sept 30, 2018 that it was focusing on strengthening its overall balance sheet and was working with lenders to put in place a refinancing of the group’s US$500mil debt.
US light crude oil jumped US$2.38 ti US$53.31 and Brent advanced US$2.50 to US$61.96. Petronas Gas rose 32 sen to RM19.26, Dialog six sen to RM3.23 but Petronas Chemical fell three sen to RM9.17 and Petronas Dagangan skidded 80 sen to RM25 and erased 1.4 points.
Consumer stocks fell with Nestle down RM1.40 to RM148, Carlsberg 32 sen to RM19.40, BAT 22 sen to RM37.48 and F&N 12 sen to RM33.20.
The ringgit recovered against several key currenices as risk appetite for emerging markets' currencies improved.
The ringgit rose 0.45% to the Us dollar to 4.1652; gained 0.48% to the pound sterling to 5.3358; and climbed 0.68% to 4.7368 and edged up 0.22% to the Singapore dollar at 3.0496.
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