KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips gave nearly most of their early gains to end Monday slightly higher, aided by Petronas Gas and telcos while the ringgit fell against several key currencies.

At 5pm, the KLCI was up 0.82 of a point or 0.05% to 1,741.47. Turnover was 2.73 billion shares valued at RM1.95bil. There were 402 gainers, 405 losers and 445 counters unchanged.

The ringgit fell 0.25% against the US dollar to 4.2355; slumped 0.58% against the pound sterling to 5.5810 and slipped 0.04% versus the Singapore unit to 3.1083 but edged up 0.29% to the euro at 4.9738.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's convincing election victory lifted the Nikkei to its highest in 21 years and world stocks to an all-time high on Monday, despite an escalation of Spain's constitutional crisis that weighed on the country's banks, Reuters reported.

Japan's Nikkei raced up 1.1% to its highest since 1996, lifting the MSCI All-Country World index to a fresh record high.

China stocks ended slightly higher on strong gains in consumer and healthcare firms although trading volumes remained thin as investors awaited policy cues from a party congress and fresh data showed growth in new home prices slowed to a crawl in September, the wire reported.

US light crude oil rose 19 cents to US$52.03 but Brent shed four cents to US$57.71. Petronas Gas rose 32 sen to RM18.20 and addd 1.07 points to the KLCI, Petronas Dagangan fell 20 sen to RM23.98 and Petronas Chemicals four sen lower at RM7.50.

Petron Malaysia added 38 sen to RM11.62 while Yinson gained 16 sen to RM3.98. Lotte Chemical Titan lost fell 16 sen to RM5.18.

Crude palm oil for third-month delivery rose RM35 to RM2,776 per tonne.  Kluang rose 43 sen to RM3.70, Chin Tek added 24 sen to RM7.90 and PPB Group 18 sen higher at RM16.72, Sime Darby five sen higher at RM9.11, IOI Corp three sen lower at RM4.43 while KL Kepong lost six senb to RM24.40.

As for telcos, Axiata added six sen to RM5.22 and nudged the KLCI up 0.91 of a point, Digi five sen to RM4.87, Maxis four sen to RM5.75, Telekom edged up one sen to RM6.13. 

Among the banks, Hong Leong Bank gained 10 sen to RM16.10, AmBank one sen to RM4.38, RHB Bank and Public Bank flat at RM4.98 and RM20.46, CIMB shed oine sen to RMRM6.18 and Maybank five sen lower at RM9.24.

Genting Malaysia fell 11 sen to RM5.12, Genting Bhd lost five sen to RM9.35, Tenaga two sen lower at RM14.30. Bursa gained 25 sen to RM10.

Notion VTec, which hit limit-down on Friday and was suspended after fire damaged its plant in Klang, resumed trading on Monday. It rose 3.5 sen to 73.5 sen.
Burn-in tester KESM fell 16 sen to RM16.44 and Globetronics 15 sen lower at RM6.20.

Among the key regional markets,

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.11% to 21,696.65;

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.64% to 28,305.88;

CSI 300 gaine d0.1% to 3,930.80;

Shanghai’s Composite Index rose 0.06% to 3,380.76;

Hang Seng China Enterprise fell 0.58% to 11,491.07;

Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.06% to 10,735.21;

South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.02% to 2,490.05 and

Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.27% to 3,349.65.

Spot gold fell US$4.65 to US$1,275.82.