KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips closed higher on Monday, with the FBM KLCI up nearly seven points, underpinned by gains in Petronas-linked stocks and Genting Malaysia but Magnum closed at a 2012 low.

At 5pm, the KLCI was up 6.67 points or 0.38% to 1,774.95. Turnover was 4.10 billion shares valued at RM2.95bil. There were 542 gainers, 420 losers and 374 counters unchanged.

The ringgit rose against the US dollar, up 0.39% to 4.3045 from the previous close of 4.3215, adaned 0.46% against the pound sterling to 5.5928 from 5.6186 while it eked out some gains against the Singapore dollar, climbing 0.08% to 3.1055 from 3.1079. It inched up 0.07% versus the euro to 4.8146 from 4.8178.

Oil rose on Monday, bolstered by confidence that top exporters will this week agree to extend supply curbs, with suggestions that the cuts could even be deepened, Reuters reported.

Us light crude oil rose 36 cents to US$50.69 and Brent added 39 cents to US$54.

Petronas Gas rose 80 sen to RM19.80 and added 2.68 points to the KLCI while Petronas Dagangan gained 28 sen to RM25.04 and Petronas Chemicals two sen higher at RM7.35. Refiner Hengyuan rose 20 sen to RM5.29.

As for consumer stocks, Dutch Lady was the top gainer, up RM1.02 to RM58.86, F&N gained 36 sen to RM25.40 but BAT fell 78 sen to RM45, Ajinomoto 48 sen lower at RM19.48 and Carlsberg lost 16 sen to RM14.66.

Genting Malaysia rose 19 sen to RM5.99 and nudged the KLCI up 1.91 points but Genting Bhd lost 15 sen to RM9.80. 


Choo Bee jumped 35 sen to RM2.47 on higher earnings while Aeon Credit gained 26 sen to RM19.28. 

Among the banks, Public Bank rose 10 sen to RM20.10, RHB Bank added one sen to RM5.41, Maybank, and AmBank were flat at RM9.35 and RM5.41 while CIMB shed one sen to RM5.95.

As for telcos, Telekom rose five sen to RM6.50, Digi two sen higher at RM5.03, Maxis one sen to RM6.52 while Axiata was unchanged at RM5.24.

AirAsia X rose in active trade ahead of its first quarter results. It rose two sen to 53 sen in active trade while its warrants added one sen to 29 sen.

Magnum fell 22 sen to RM1.88 with 22.4 million shares done, the lowest since 2012. Its call warrants Magnum-C1 plunged 13 sen to two sen with 1.49 million units traded, after it announced a weaker set of earnings and also a heavy tax heavy penalty.

Crude palm oil for third-month delivery climbed RM42 to RM2,677 per tonne. PPB Group added six sen to RM17.04, IOI Corp one sen higher at RM4.54, Sime Darby was flat at RM9.31 while KL Kepong shed two sen to RM24.84.

Among the key regional markets,

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.45% to 19,678.28;

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.86% to 25,391.34;

CSI 300 gained 0.22% to 3,411.24;

Shanghai’s Composite Index fell 0.48% to 3,075.68;

Hang Seng China Enterprise jumped 1.04% to 10,374.32;

Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.5% to 9,997.26;

South Korea’s Kospi was up 0.68% to 2,304.03 and

Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.1% to 3,213.57.

Spot gold shed 13 cents to US$1,255.80 per troy ounce.

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