KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips trudged higher early Friday, aided by gains in FBM KLCI-linked stocks like Dialog, PPB Group and IOI Corp but key Asian markets were lower after the weaker US retail sales.
At 9.25am, the KLCI was up 3.28 points or 0.19% to 1,692.34. Turnover was 518.08 million shares valued at RM177.87mil. There were 205 gainers, 138 losers and 254 counters unchanged.
Asian stocks slipped after grim US retail sales figures raised fresh doubts about the strength of the US economy, offsetting optimism on trade talks between the United States and China, Reuters reported.
Japan's Nikkei dropped 1.1% while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.25% and South Korea's Kospi down 1%.
US oil prices rose, gaining for a fourth day on hopes of further supply cuts by major exporters, despite uncertainty about US-China trade talks. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 40 cents to US$54.79 and Brent rose above US$65 for first time in 2019.
At Bursa, Dialog rose 15 sen to RM3.14 after the strong results. Yinson
gained 18 sen to RM4.26, Petron added 14 sen to RM7.32 and Hengyuan was up 12 sen to RM5.32.
PPB Group gained 16 sen to RM18.32 and IOI Corp seven sen to RM4.61.
Carlsberg was the top gainer, up 68 sen to RM22.26 after its strong results and RM1 dividend, Heineken 50 sen to RM21.78 and BAT 14 sen to RM36.44.
However, Nestle fell 50 sen to RM148.40 and F&N lost 13 sen to RM33.56.
IHH gave up its previous day’s gains, falling 13 sen to RM5.64, SAM Engineering six sen lower at RM7.48 and CHHB five sen to RM1.50.
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