KLCI closes higher on late buying, Genting Bhd, IOI Corp

KUALA LUMPUR: Late buying of index-linked stocks enabled the FBM KLCI to close at the day's best, underpinned by fund buying of Genting Bhd and IOI Corp.
At
the close, the FBM KLCI was up 2.44 points or 0.14% to 1,769.16.
Turnover was 2.11 billion shares valued at RM2.07bil. There were 588
gainers, 271 losers and 263 counters unchanged.
The KLCI fell
into the red in the later part of the afternoon in the absence of strong
corporate newsflow and leads from regional markets. However, the
broader market was firmer, with buying of smaller capitalised and lower
liners.
Genting Bhd rose 18 sen to RM10.76, pushing up the KLCI by 1.43 points. Petronas Dagangan rose 32 sen to RM25.12, Petronas Gas 14 sen to RM22.04 and UEM Land four sen to RM3.17.
Among the banks, Hong Leong Bank rose 26 sen to RM14.30, HLFG 16 sen to RM15.56, AMMB nine sen to RM7.24 and RHB Cap two sen to RM8.81. Public Bank fell 10 sen to RM16.60 and CIMB shed one sen to RM8.33.
Crude
palm oil futures for third-month delivery rose RM16 to RM2,330. TAHPS
was the top gainer, adding 50 sen to RM5.80, KLK 12 sen to RM21.70 and IOI Corp seven sen to RM5.14.
The ringgit continued to lose ground against the US dollar, slipping to 3.0220 from the previous close of 3.0139.
Among the key regional markets:
Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.67% to 15,138.12;
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.17% to 23,082.68;
Shanghai's Composite Index rose 1.38% to 2,282.87;
Taiwan's Taiex fell 0.26% to 8,368.19;
South Korea's Kospi rose 0.79% to 1,986.81; and
Singapore's Straits Times Index fell 0.16% to 3,446.66.