KLCI sets another fresh record high for second day

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian stock market saw its benchmark FBM KLCI
record a fresh record closing high of 1,613.7 on Wednesday, the second
consecutive day, underpinned by fund buying of plantations to banks.
Market sentiment was upbeat on Bursa Malaysia following the strong performance of Felda Global Ventures and ahead of the listing of IHH Healthcare.
At
5pm, the KLCI closed up 6.01 points or 0.37% to 1,613.75. It had hit an
all-time intra-day high of 1,614.79 earlier in the morning session.
Turnover
was 1.08 billion shares valued at RM1.69bil. Advancing counters beat
decliners 408 to 353 while 331 counters were unchanged.
Among
the key regional markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 added 0.41% to 9,104.17;
Taiwan's Taiex rose 0.06% to 7,422.59; South Korea's Kospi 0.35% higher
at 1,874.45 and Singapore's Straits Times Index increased by 0.16% to
2,950.17.
However, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipped 0.13% to
19,709.75 on slowing retail sales. Shanghai's Composite Index eased
0.08% to 2,227.31 on worries about a possible decline in construction
activity would hurt industrial companies.
Asian currencies rose,
led by South Korea's won and India's rupee, after U.S. factory orders
topped estimates, tempering concern global economic growth is slowing,
Bloomberg reported.
Factory orders in the world's largest
economy rose 0.7%, following a revised 0.7% drop in April, the Commerce
Department said in Washington. Economists had predicted a 0.1% gain,
based on the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey.
US
light crude oil retreated 37 cents to US$87.29 after the recent surge
while Brent fell 65 cents to US$100.03. Spot gold added 85 cents to
US$1,618.30.
The ringgit was quoted at 3.1525 to the US dollar versus Tuesday's close of 3,1513.
Crude
palm oil for third-month delivery rose RM7 to RM3,131, the highest
since May 30. However, it was off its earlier high of RM3,147.
Among the plantations, KL Kepong added 70 sen to RM23.90 and nudging the KLCI up 1.17 points while IOI added four sen to RM5.26 and Sime Darby three sen to RM9.93. Felda Global rose four sen to RM5.50.
Among
the smaller cap plantations, BLD Plantations rose 27 sen to RM8.59 with
13,300 shares done and Kluang 25 sen to RM2.75 with 6,200 shares done
Petronas Chemicals rose 16 sen to RM6.62, pushing the KLCI up 1.6 points. Among the banks, Public added six sen to RM13.90.
MBM Resources
rallied 61 sen to RM3.80 and MBMR-WA 30.5 sen to 93 sen. Amresearch
reaffirm its high conviction BUY on MBM with a higher fair value of
RM4.30/share (versus RM3.60/share previously), following a recent
meeting with management.
Nestle
shed 34 sen to RM57.98, Dutch Lady 26 sen to RM11.76 and Carlsberg 16
sen to RM11.76 as investors took profit after the recent surge in the
share prices.
Warisan fell 28 sen to RM2.40 with 300 shares done and TanChong shed 11 sen to RM4.46.
Tricubes tumbled seven sen to three sen with 25.94 million shares done ahead of its suspension on July 11.