KUALA LUMPUR: A rally in Public Bank's share and Maxis lifted the FBM KLCI to a higher close on Tuesday offsetting the fall in Petronas-linked stocks.
At 5pm, the KLCI was up 3.26 points or 0.19% to 1,679.42. Turnover was 2.40 billion shares valued at RM1.87bil. There were 413 gainers, 374 losers and 357 counters unchanged.
The firmer close was in line with the rebound in key Asian markets after Chinese officials pledged they would unveil a slew of measures to shore up economic growth, and reiterated confidence in the stability of yuan, according to reports.
A late rally in Public Bank's shares, up 28 sen to RM24.98, pushed the KLCI up 1.9 points while CIMB added two sen to RM5.67, AmBank three sen to RM4.51 while RHB Bank was unchanged at RM5.42. Hong Leong Bank fell four sen to RM20.70 and Maybank shed two sen to RM9.41.
As for telcos, Maxis climbed eight sen to RM5.72 and added a point to the index, Digi shed one sen to RM4.47 and Axiata five sen to RM3.95.
US light crude oil recovered 38 cents to US$50.89 and Brent was up 44 cents to US$59.43.
However, Petronas Chemical continued to lose ground, down eight sen to RM8.27 and erasing 1.12 points from the KLCI. It was recently downgraded.
Petronas Dagangan lost 60 sen to RM24.80 and wiped out 1.04 points while Petronas Gas lost 22 sen to RM17.78. However, Dialog gained six sen to RM2.88.
MISC rose 10 sen to RM6.62, Genting Bhd
seven sen to RM6.45 and Sime Darby one sen to RM2.36 but Genting Malaysia shed one sen to RM3.31 while Tenaga shed two sen to RM13.84.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery rose RM13 to RM2,149 per tonne. KL Kepong rose 12 sen to RM24.30 and IOI Corp five sen higher to RM4.60 while PPB Group was flat at RM17.52. Sime Plantation shed two sen to RM5.08.
Uni Wall Aps closed six sen higher at 22 sen. It opened at 20 sen, or four sen above its offer price of 16 sen on the LEAP Market.
MAHB fell three sen to RM7.97. UBS downgraded the recommendation to sell from neutral.
The ringgit fell against the US dollar, down 0.13% to 4.1065, weakened 0.41% against the pound sterling to 5.2780 and eased 0.14% against the Singapore unit to 3.0317. It rose 0.12% against the euro to 4.6980.
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