KUALA LUMPUR: The local market saw slight consolidation following Thursday's steep advance although positive developments on global trade helped to pare losses.
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was down 1.05 points to 1,720.37. Trading volume was 1.5 billion shares valued at RM1.04bil.
Based on the technical chart, the index remains bullish and the rally is expected to resume given the recent breach of the 50- and 100-day simple moving averages.
On the broader stock exchange, there were 432 decliners compared to 316 advancers and 327 counters unchanged.
Leading the day's trading action, Dayang experienced a 24.5 sen or 30.82% jump to RM1.04 on the back of 114.28 million shares traded.
PublicInvest research raised its FY19-20 earnings estimates on Dayang following its announcement of a historical-high fourth quarter net profit as compared to a net loss in the year-ago quarter.
Meanwhile, Petra Energy hit limit-up after its share price surged 30 sen or 71.43% to 72 sen on the back of 1.19 million shares exchanging hands after the company also returned to the black in the recent fourth quarter.
Among KLCI-linked stocks, Axiata led the decline with a 10 sen fall to RM4.15 on news of its RM1.66bil net loss in Q4.
Stocks seeing some positive price action, Petronas Chemicals added 10 sen to RM9.13 while Digi gained three sen to RM4.70 and TNB rose two sen to RM13.46.
Regional markets rallied on Monday as US President Donald Trump confirmed his intention to postpone the March 1 deadline for another round of trade tariff hikes on China.
He cited progress towards a trade resolution as the reason for the delay, giving investors the strongest sign yet that the two nations will be able to come to an agreement during ongoing negotiations.
The Shanghai Composite Index jumped 3.3% to lead Asian markets higher. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.5% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.25%.
Thailand's SET Index rose 0.6% as one of the best Southeast Asian performers while Singapore's Straits Times Index slipped 0.3%.
Global crude oil failed to capitalise on the improved sentiment as rising US oil production forced Middle Eastern producers to offer the commodity at a discount.
According to Reuters, Abu Dhabi's Murban crude has sold at a discount in Asia to its official selling price for four straight months.
US crude fell 14 cents to US$57.12 a barrel and Brent crude dropped 24 cents to US$66.88 a barrel.
The ringgit meanwhile lifted 0.15% against the US dollar to 4.0710. It slipped 0.1% against the pound sterling at 5.3195 and was unchanged against the Singapore dollar at 3.0147.
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