KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB and Genting Bhd
helped the FBM KLCI top notch its second day of gains on Wednesday as the broader market showed signs of improvement but importantly, the ringgit managed to advance among some key currencies.
At 5pm, the KLCI was up 2.17 points or 0.12% to 1,761.84. Turnover was healthy at 2.25 billion shares valued at RM1.83bil. Gainers led losers 425 to 378 while 445 counters unchanged.
The ringgit rose 0.22% against the US dollar to 4.2275 and added 0.07% versus the pound sterling to 5.6114 and inched up 0.04% to the euro at 4.9714 but it slipped 0.01% to the Singapore dollar at 3.1072.
Philippine and Indonesian shares posted record closing highs on Wednesday as overnight gains on Wall Street buoyed sentiment across Asia, while Thailand edged down after scaling a 24-year peak. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific
shares outside Japan rose as much as 0.3%, Reuters reported.
At Bursa Malaysia, Palette Multimedia surged 12.5 sen to 34.5 sen – the highest in recent years – with 150.7 million shares done. Its warrants surged 13 sen to 31 sen with 50.99 million units traded.
StarBiz reported Palette attracted two investors - Wong Thean Soon and Brahmal Vasudevan.
As for the KLCI stocks, CIMB gained five sen to RM6.41 and added 0.74 of a point to the index and RHB Bank advanced four sen to RM5.10 while Hong Leong Bank gained two sen to RM15.88. AmBank and Public Bank fell two sen to RM4.47 and
RM20.58 while Maybank shed one sen to RM9.55.
Genting Bhd rose nine sen to RM9.59, Genting Malaysia three sen to RM5.50, MISC lost three sen to RM7.23 and Tenaga Nasional two sen lower at RM14.28. MAHB lost 22 sen to RM8.30 on profit taking after a strong run.
US light crude oil fell 31 cents to US$50.11 and Brent was 38 cents lower at US$55.62 on expectations of an increase in supply coming into the markets. Petronas Gas rose 16 sen to RM18.24, Petronas Chemical two sen higher at RM7.31
while Petronas Dagangan was flat at RM24.26.
Petron rallied to a record high of RM11.60 before profit taking saw it ending down 20 sen to RM10.82. Hengyuan added two sen to RM8.32 but off the day's high of RM8.59.
Time dotCom rose 20 sen to RM9.05 and it was the top gainer for the day. Axiata, Digi and Maxis added two sen each to RM5.30, RM4.95 and RM5.84 while Telekom also advanced two sen to RM6.27.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery gained RM34 to RM2,717 per tonne. PPB Group added six sen to RM16.88, Sime Darby one sen hgigher at RM9.05, IOI Corp lost one sen to RM4.53, KL Kepong two sen lower at RM24.78. United Plantations
fell 30 sen to RM27.40.
Chip maker MPI fell 22 sen to RM13.92 but KESM added 10 sen to RM16.
Celebrate Merdeka with 50% Off!
T&C applies.
