KUALA LUMPUR: Late buying of Genting Malaysia and Digi enabled the FBM KLCI to close a shade higher on Monday after spending most of the trading day in the red.
At 5pm, the KLCI was up 0.03 of a point to 1,764.03. Turnover was 2.83 billion shares valued at RM1.71bil. There were 407 gainers, 367 losers and 473 counters unchanged.
The ringgit gained against the US dollar but slipped against the other key currencies. It rose 0.08% to the US dollar at 4.2335but fell 0.14% against the pound sterling tom5.5479 and slipped 0.04% versus the Singapore dollar to 3.1022 and decl9ined 0.24% to the euro at 4.9672.
Hong Kong stocks dipped on Monday after hitting near 10-year highs last week, as investors took profits in property and financial shares in the wake of a disappointing China services survey and worries on North Korea curbed risk appetites, Reuters reported.
Chinese stocks rose, led by consumer shares, as the nation’s financial markets reopened after a week-long break. Banks trimmed early gains, according to Bloomberg.
At Bursa Malaysia, Sunway-WB was the top gainer, surging 30 sen to 60.5 sen while Teck Guan-LA jumped 29 sen to RM4.38.
Southern Acids was among the top gainers but in relatively thin trade after a StarBiz report on its potential diversification into property. It climbed 19 sen to RM4.85.
Genting Malaysia rose nine sen to RM5.47 and added 0.9 of point to the KLCI but Genting Bhd
lost 12 sen to RM9.56 and erased 0.78 of a point. Hap Seng gained four sen to RM9.12 but MISC shed two sen to RM7.23.
As for telcos, Digi rose four sen to RM4.98 and gave the KLCI a 0.53 of a point boost, Maxis gained two sen to RM5.91 while Telekom and Axiata were one sen higher at RM6.30 and RM5.33.
As for banks, Maybank, CIMB and Ambank added just a sen each to RM9.55, RM6.42 and RM4.49 respectively while Public Bank was flat at RM20.56 and RHB Bank shed three sen to RM5.12. AeonCredit gained 12 sen to RM13.06 after reporting a jump in its earnings last week.
Among the consumer stocks. F&N added 12 sen to RM25 but BAT fell 52 sen to RM43, Dutch Lady 30 sen lower at RM59.90.
Lower liners were also among the top gainers, with Lii Hen up 17 sen to RM4.01 and Mudajaya adding 11 sen to RM1.29
Crude palm oil for third month delivery rose RM6 to RM2,736 per tonne. Sime Darby and PPB Group were flat at RM9.12 and RM16.82, IOI Corp shed one sen to RM4.53 and KL Kepong two sen lower at RM24.78.
US light crude oil rose 11 cents to US$49.40 but Brent fell 21 cents to US$55.41. Petronas Dagangan lost eight sen to RM24.30, Petronas Chemical and Petronas Gas two sen down to RM7.33 and RM18.08. Enra fell nine sen to RM2.53
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