Market Close KLCI up on plantation shares, better regional performance

by **Cals** Fri 02 Oct 2015, 00:44

Market Close

[size=28]KLCI up on plantation shares, better regional performance

By Supriya Surendran / theedgemarkets.com | October 1, 2015 : 5:53 PM MYT

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 1): The FBM KLCI rose 12.89 points or 0.8% to 1,633.93, attributed to positive regional market performance on China economic data. This followed an overnight rise in US markets.

At 5pm, the KLCI rose on gains in plantation stocks like Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd ([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Valuation: 0.50, Fundamental: 1.00) and Sime Darby Bhd ( Valuation: 1.40, Fundamental: 0.80), both of which ended among Bursa Malaysia top gainers. Oil palm plantation firms were seen gaining from a weaker ringgit and lower output, both of which were expected to bode well for crude palm oil prices.

Across Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose about 2% while South Korea's Kospi was up 0.84%. China markets are closed from today (Oct 1) until next Wednesday (Oct 7) for national holidays.

In Malaysia, Maybank Investment Bank regional chartist Lee Cheng Hooi said the KLCI's performance was "mainly due to a better regional market performance".

"Overnight, the US markets rose after the ADP Research Institute survey that showed private employers added 200,000 jobs in September, ahead of the US jobs report for September this Friday," Lee told theedgemarkets.com.

China was closely watched today. Reuters reported that the announcement of China's manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) was not as bad as some had feared, although it still showed contraction for the second straight month.

It was reported that China's official PMI rose to 49.8 in September from the previous month's 49.7.

In Malaysia, Bursa Malaysia ended the day with 1.52 billion shares valued at RM1.82 billion traded.

Gainers outweighed decliners at 465 against 306. Major decliners included United Plantations Bhd ([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Valuation: 1.10, Fundamental: 1.95) and Allianz Malaysia Bhd ( Valuation: 1.95, Fundamental: 1.00)

The most-actively traded stock was Aemulus Holdings Bhd ([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Valuation: N/A, Fundamental: N/A) with 84.21 million shares traded.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company's profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)
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