For April, the 30-stock index was up 9.46 points or 0.58% from a month ago.
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia joined other key Asian markets to close on a firm note on Tuesday with funds seen buying Tenaga Nasional, Maxis and Public Bank.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI was up 13.22 points or 0.83% to 1,614.57 – the day's high. Turnover improved to 2.4 billion shares valued at RM4.52bil, the highest in recent weeks and reflecting the higher quality of buying.
The broader market was firmer with 427 gainers, 395 losers and 348 counters unchanged.
Power giant Tenaga rose 30 sen to RM11.66 and added 2.98 points to the KLCI. Its first quarter net profit fell by 26.5% to RM1.55bil on higher forex translation losses and higher finance costs.
The power giant said the lower earnings were due to other regulatory adjustments to be returned, impairments for its international investments and higher tax in the quarter due to reinvestment allowance incentive is no longer available in the current year of assessment.
Maxis rose 19 sen to RM5.55 and added 2.59 points to the KLCI, Digi added three sen to RM4.72 while Axiata was unchanged at RM4.54.
Public Bank jumped 34 sen to RM23.12 – the highest since April 1 and nudged the KLCI up 2.30 points.
AmBank rose 12 sen to RM4.39 after net profit for the financial year ended March 31, 2019 rose by 32.9% to RM1.505bil from RM1.132bil in FY18, driven by its strong transformation strategy, net recovery and lower expenses. Revenue increased by 6.3% to RM9.12bil from RM8.57bil a year ago.
However, Hong Leong Bank Bhd
fell 32 sen to RM18.94 and erased 1.2 points. Its net profit fell by 8.1% to RM633.89mil from RM690.03mil a year ago due to lower net income but mitigated by lower operating expenses, lower allowance for impairments and higher share of profit from associated company. Its revenue fell by 7.1% to RM1.166bil from RM1.256bil.
Petronas Chemical fell eight sen to RM8.51 and erased 1.12 points but Petronas Gas added eight sen to RM16.34 and Petronas Dagangan 12 sen to RM24.72. Dialog edge dup one sen to RM3.31.
Sime Darby added 16 sen to RM2.36, IHH Health nine sen to RM5.36, Genting 11 sen to RM6.41 and MISC nine sen to RM6.70.
On the external front, China stocks closed higher for a second straight session, as a top regulatory official downplayed the impact of the US-China trade war and as foreign investors bought shares ahead of an increase in MSCI's weighting.
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