Market Close KLCI surges 13 points/0.7% to intraday high on foreign fund buying

by **Cals** Wed 11 Jun 2014, 01:58

Market Close KLCI surges 13 points/0.7% to intraday high on foreign fund buying

Business & Markets 2014

Written by Jeffrey Tan of theedgemalaysia.com

Tuesday, 10 June 2014 17:25

KUALA LUMPUR (June 10): The FBM KLCI surged 12.92 points or 0.7% on foreign fund buying in the last two trading hours.

At 5pm, the KLCI closed at 1,876.61 points. The rise came on gains in stocks such as DiGi.Com Bhd, Petronas Gas Bhd and PPB Group Bhd.

“Foreign funds have flowed in, thus, pushing the market higher,” Sam Ng, senior remisier of InterPacific Securities told theedgemalaysia.com

Across Bursa Malaysia, Ng said trading volume was thin, noting that the bulk of trading volume came from mid-cap counters.

Bursa Malaysia saw a total of 1.3 billion shares worth RM1.8 billion traded. Market gainers led decliners by 423 versus 316, while 342 counters were unchanged.

Top gainers were oil palm plantation firms PPB Group Bhd and Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd (KLK) while the leading decliner was TAHPS Group Bhd. The most-active counter was Malaysian Airline System Bhd.

PPB and KLK rose after the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) reported that palm oil inventory rose 4.2% to 1.84 million tonnes in May 2014 from 1.77 million tonnes in April 2014.

MPOB said crude palm oil production climbed 6.5% to 1.7 million tonnes from 1.6 million tonnes. Palm oil exports increased 10.74% to 1.4 million tonnes from 1.3 million tonnes.

Despite the KLCI ending higher today, Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd believes the market could see short-term correction towards its support at 1,855 points.

“We believe the market could consolidate further but ample liquidity in the market is likely to provide some support at 1,855 points or 1,839 points,” Kenanga said in a note.

Across Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 closed 0.85% lower. In China, the Shanghai Composite ended 1.08% higher while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.86%

Elsewhere, South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.09% while Singapore’s Straits Times closed 0.32% down.

Asia stocks rose to three-year highs on Tuesday on optimism over global growth prospects and a record run on Wall Street, which helped lift Treasury yields and the dollar, according to Reuters.

Monetary easing by the European Central Bank last week also has whetted the appetite for riskier assets globally, with an upbeat U.S. nonfarm payrolls report on Friday giving further impetus to investors.