KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia staged a rally today in anticipation of positive perks to be announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak when he tables the Budget 2018 later today.
Dealers said market sentiment picked up today. However, they said it remained to be seen if the gains can be sustained following the Budget 2018 announcement. Historically, the FBM KLCI tends to climb ahead of budget announcements.
At midday, FBM KLCI closed 10.47 points, or 0.6% higher at 1,747.27 points. The index opened 4.54 points better at 1,741.34.
In the broader market, there were 420 stocks advancing against 290 stocks declining while 400 counters unchanged. About 1.58 billion shares, valued at RM1.12bil, changed hands.
Hong Leong Investment Bank Research said investors were still adopting a wait-and-see mode ahead of Budget 2018.
“In the US, the focus would now shift to corporate tax reform details that may be unveiling soon as this should enhance the earnings in the future. Nevertheless, we think the Dow may experience a short term pullback amid overbought signals and the upside is likely to be capped around 23,500.
“Still, for the local bourse, stocks are likely to stay cautious ahead of Budget 2018. However, should there be any positive announcements in Budget 2018, we may expect short term recovery of key index towards 1,740-1,750. Also, oil and gas stocks could stay focus amid stronger Brent prices above US$59,” it said.
The top three index movers were Tenaga Nasional Bhd
(TNB), Sime Darby Bhd and Axiata Group Bhd.
Heavyweight TNB, with a 7.68% weighting in the KLCI, was up 4.74%, or 68 sen, to RM15.02. The counter hit an all-time high earlier after climbing 94 sen jumped 94 sen, or 6.69% to RM15.30 as investors focused on a record dividend of RM3.5bil and ignored a marginally lower earnings in its latest quarterly report.
Among the gainers were Nestle, which rose 30 sen to RM86.90, Mercury gained 26 sen to RM2.15 and Poly Glass climbed 20.5 sen to 59 sen.
The top loser on Bursa Malaysia included British American Tobacco that fell 22 sen to RM40.56. Tasek lost 10 sen to RM12.60 while Genting Bhd fell nine sen to RM9.24.
Meanwhile, ringgit depreciated 0.19% to 4.2425 against the US dollar.
Overnight, most US stocks climbed amid a raft of robust earnings reports, speculation about the Federal Reserve’s next leader and congressional action on taxes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 71.61 points, or 0.31 percent, to 23,401.07.
Regional stocks finished largely higher at midday, tracking gains on Wall Street. Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.9% to 21,937.82 points by midmorning, after hitting as high as 21,968.75, its strongest level since mid-1996. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.6% at 2,495.41 points while the S&P/ASX 200 index rose 5.4 points, or 0.1% to 5,921.7.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.84% to 28,438.43 points while Shanghai Composite index rose 0.28% to 3,417.12 points.
Celebrate Merdeka with 50% Off!
T&C applies.
