GE13: Blue chips surge to record as funds jump into market

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's stock market recorded its best performance
to date on Monday, with the FBM KLCI ending 3.38% higher at 1,752, as
funds snapped up blue chips after Barisan Nasional stayed in power
though with a smaller margin.
At the close, the KLCI rose 57.25
points to 1,752.02, but off the day's high of 1,826.22. Turnover surged
to 1.91 billion shares valued at RM4.99bil. Advancing counters trounced
decliners 870 to 83 with 132 counters unchanged.
UOB Kay Hian
Malaysia Research said BN fulfilled its scenario of having an adequate
win by clinching 60% of parliamentary seats, which was above the more
than 55% "adequate" scenario and gaining state seats in Peninsular
Malaysia.
"It successfully defended the Perak state (by a slim
majority), and reclaimed the Kedah state from Pakatan Rakyat (PR). A
notable surprise was the resilience of the Sabah parliamentary seats,"
said the research house.
Meanwhile, Hwang Investment Management chief investment officer David Ng
said since the Barisan Nasional had maintained its position as the
government and the election overhang was behind, the market would
continue to advance.
"Investors can now start deploying their
cash to the market, which has been sitting on the sidelines waiting for
the outcome of the elections," he said in a statement.
Ng
expected a surge in buying activities led by foreign and local
institutional investors attracted by the lagging market performance
versus the regional peers and strong economic fundamentals such as good
foreign direct investment, a positive investment cycle and strong
consumer confidence.
CIMB was the major gainer among the KLCI stocks, adding a hefty 12.70 point to the KLCI when it rose 74 sen to RM8.35. Maybank added 39 sen to RM9.98 and pushed the index up 6.05 points. Public Bank added eight sen to RM16.42 and HL Bank 10 sen to RM14.40.
BAT was the top gainer, up RM1.64 to RM64 while Dutch Lady rose 66 sen to RM46.80 and Nestle 56 sen to RM63.
Petronas Dagangan rose RM1.06 to RM24.26 and Petronas Gas 44 sen to RM20. Among the utilities, Tenaga rose 39 sen to RM8.17, Telekom Malaysia seven sen to RM5.58.
Plantations also rallied despite the lacklustre crude palm oil (CPO) futures market, where it was trading RM1 lower at RM2,251.
KL Kepong rose 60 sen to RM21.54, PPB Group 40 sen to RM13, Sime Darby seven sen to RM9.43 and IOI Corp 10 sen to RM5.07.
The ringgit strengthened to 2.9792 at 5pm against the US dollar, but off its day's best of 2.9625 earlier.
Among the key regional markets:
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.99% to 22,915.09;
Shanghai's Composite Index rose 1.17% to 2,231.17;
Taiwan's Taiex rose 0.42% to 8,169.05;
South Korea's Kospi fell 0.22% to 1,961.48;
Singapore's Straits Times Index rose 0.38% to 3,382.64
Crude palm oil for third-month futures
US light crude oil rose 77 cents to US$96.38 and Brent 70 cents higher at US$104.89.
Spot gold rose US$3.29 to US$1,474.04.