KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI extended gains on Friday as investor sentiment improved over reports of progress in US-China trade talks.
The local benchmark index extended its lead over the 50-day simple moving average, which suggests a return to a bullish bias.
On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported that US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin dicussed lifting some or all tariffs on Chinese imports during trade discussions scheduled on Jan 30.
In the morning session, Bursa Malaysia saw 1.49 billion shares exchanging hands with a value of RM884.2mil. There were 395 gainers versus 308 decliners and 329 counters unchanged.
KLCI-linked counters seeing positive price action included Petronas Chemicals climbing 21 sen to RM8.61, MISC rising four sen to RM6.64 and Axiata gaining two sen to RM4.03.
Most active counters on the market today included Bumi Armada
rising three sen to 19 sen, Sapura Energy losing 0.5 sen to 28.5 sen and Xinghe gaining 0.5 sen to 4.5 sen.
Heitech Padu hit limit up after surging 30 sen to 86 sen in active trade following StarBiz's report that its 80% owned unit, MyPay, will be making its foray into the government e-services space.
Meanwhile, DRB-Hicom saw selling pressure with a 10 sen fall to RM1.69 on news that its indirect subsidiary Proton Automobiles (China) Ltd was hit with a claim of RM522mil from Goldstar Heavy Industrial Co Ltd.
Oil prices were propped up by the prospect of a trade resolution while a share fall in Opec production last month eased concerns of a supply glut.
US crude gained 57 cents to US$52.64 a barrel while Brent crude put on 57 cents to US$61.75 a barrel.
In currencies, the ringgit was marginally lower against the greenback at 4.1160. It was 0.1% weaker against the Singapore dollar at 3.0356 and 1% lower against the pound sterling 5.3437.
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