KUALA LUMPUR: Late buying of Genting Malaysia underpinned the FBM KLCI's positive close on Friday while the trading value and volume declined ahead of the long weekend.

At 5pm, the KLCI was up 2.02 points or 0.11% to 1,779.45. Turnover was 1.31 billion shares valued at RM1.54bil. There were 410 gainers, 306 losers and 462 counters unchanged.

Hong Kong shares were little changed on Friday, and roughly flat for the week, amid concerns that MSCI's decision this week to include China-listed shares to its emerging market benchmark could weaken the city's role as a gateway to investing in China, Reuters reported. 

The ringgit fell against several key currencies, slipping 0.06% to the US dollar to 4.2893 while it was down 0.55% to the pound sterling at 5.4585. It lost 0.26% to the Singapore dollar to 3.0928 and dipped 0.07% to the euro at 4.7906.

At Bursa Malaysia, Genting Malaysia rose 27 sen to RM5.83 and nudged the KLCI up 2.73 points, Genting Bhd fell four sen to RM9.72 while Tenaga and MISC shed two sen each to RM14.16 and RM7.40.

As for telcos, Maxis rose five sen to RM5.64, Telekom added two sen to RM6.62 while Axiata and Digi were flat at RM4.94 and RM4.99.

Among the banks, AmBank fell 12 sen to RM4.98 and erased 0.61 point from the KLCI while RHB Bank shed one sen to RM5.13. Hong Leong Bank rose 14 sen to RM15.54, CIMB three sen higher at RM6.68 while Public Bank was flat at RM20.38.

Crude palm oil for third month delivery fell RM6 to RM2,441 per tonne. Sime inched up one sen to RM9.61, IOI Corp was flat at RM4.48, PPB Group shed four sen to RM16.84 and KL Kepong six sen lower at RM24.80. 

Oil prices edged up on Friday, recovering some of their steep losses made this week, but crude remained on course for its worst first-half decline in almost two decades as production cuts have failed to sufficiently reduce oversupply, Reuters reported.

Brent crude futures were up 22 cents at US$45.44 a barrel while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures traded at US$42.94, up 20 cents on their previous close.

Petronas Dagangan rose four sen to RM24.22 while Petronas Chemicals and Petronas Gas were flat at RM7.15 and RM18.90. However, refiner Hengyuan rebounded 17 sen to RM5.09 and Petron rose six sen to RM7.16. Enra lost 19 sen to RM2.61.

Consumer stocks were mixed, Ajinomoto rose RM1.12 to RM24.78 and Nestle added 26 sen to RM83.50 but Heineken fell 50 sen to RM17.96 and BAT lost 48 sen to RM44.

SP Setia fell 22 sen to RM3.40 as investors were cautious about its cash call plan.

Comintel Corp fell 15.5 sen to 91.5 sen with 14.4 million shares done after posting a weaker set of results.

George Kent jumped 25 sen to RM4.19 after posting a stronger set of earnings.

Among the key regional markets,

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.11% to 20,132.67;

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 0.02% to 25,670.05;

CSI 300 rose 0.91% to 3,622.88;

Shanghai’s Composite Index edged up 0.33% to 3,157.87;

Hang Seng China Enterprise up 0.26% to 10,430.04;

Taiwan’s Taiex lost 0.21% to 10,377.70;

South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.35% to 2,378.60

Singapore’s Straits Times Index shed 0.19% to 3,209.47.

Spot gold rose US$5.51 to US$1,256.02.

...

Full Article on TheStar