KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI broke out of its sideways trading channel on Wednesday and hit a 3.5-month high as investors turned more positive over the ongoing US-China trade talks.
At 12.30pm, the local benchmark index was up 16.03 points to 1,722.59, just a fraction off its intra-day high of 1,722.74. Trading volume continued to grow over the week, surging to two billion shares valued at RM1.36bil in the first session alone.
Asian markets were also on the uptrend for most of the morning session although Chinese markets experienced a sudden dip into the red in the final 15 minutes before the midday break.
The Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.15% while the blue chip CSI200 ended the morning session flat.
Other indices around the region were mostly positive with Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gaining 0.66%, South Korea's Kospi climbing 0.9% and Japan's Nikkei Index rising 0.35%.
Southeast Asian markets were also mostly higher, led by a 1.3% advance in the Philippines PSE Composite Index.
A new round of trade talks between US and Chinese delegates began yesterday in Washington even as US President Donald Trump indicated his willingness to push back the March 1 deadline for additional tariff hikes.
Markets have generally responded positively to these latest developments with the FBM KLCI displaying an upswing in momentum.
For the early session, 28 of the 30 KLCI-linked counters saw positive price action while two weighed. On the wider market, 576 counters advanced compared to 252 declining and 338 stayed unchanged.
Petronas Chemicals was the top performer on the index for the second straight session, rising 24 sen to RM9.14. This marked its fourth consecutive day of gains.
Axiata grew 15 sen to RM4.26, Genting climbed 24 sen to RM7.43, Maxis put on 10 sen to RM5.60 and CIMB added seven sen to RM5.76 to round out the top five KLCI counters.
The two counters seeing some selling pressure were glove makers Top Glove and Hartalega
, which slid two sen apiece to RM5.12 and RM5.47 respectively. The export-reliant rubber glove market could be seeing some downwards pressure as the US dollar continues to weaken in the face of a more dovish stance by the US Federal Reserve.
On the forex market, the ringgit gained 0.25% against the greenback to 4.0710. It slid 08% against the pound sterling at 5.3177 and was flat against the Singapore dollar at 3.0113.
Meanwhile, crude oil prices remained propped by the Opec supply cuts with Brent staying afloat of US$66 a barrel but off its 2019 high of US$66.89 hit on Monday. At noon, it had dropped 21 cents to US$66.24.
US crude was flat at US$56.09 a barrel.
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