KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips rallied on Tuesday as funds snapped up Petronas Chemical, telcos and banks, as investor appetite for riskier assets perked up following the US-Mexico trade deal.

At 5pm, the KLCI was up 15.30 points or 0.84% to 1,826.90. Turnover was 2.57 billion shares valued at RM2.29bil. There were 408 gainers, 534 losers and 393 counters unchanged.

World stocks rose to a six-month high, lifted by investor optimism that the US-Mexico deal to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement will go some way to averting a global trade war.

At Bursa, Petronas Chemical rose 20 sen to RM9.70 and nudged the KLCI up 2.85 points, Petronas Dagangan gained four sen to RM18.80 but Petronas Gas was unchanged at RM18.80. Dialoh was up eight sen to RM3.53.

Axiata added17 sen to RM4.82 and lifted the KLCI up 2.75 points, Maxis added six sen to RM5.85, Digi rose four sen to RM4.83 and Telekom three sen to RM3.59.

CIMB climbed 12 sen to RM6.08 and added two points to the KLCI, Hong Leong Bank added 40 sen to RM20.30 after the strong earnings and dividend, while Maybank advanced seven sen to RM10. RHB Bank added nine sen to RM5.32 and Public Bank two sen to RM25.

Sime Plantation rose 10 sen to RM5.30 and Sime Darby shed one sen to RM2.55.

Sime Property was unchanged at RM1.23 after it reported slightly higher net profit of RM640mil in the financial year ended June 30, 2018 mainly due to higher contribution from concession arrangement segment and two sale transactions.

Daiman Development hit limit-up, jumping 65 sen to RM2.82 after the major shareholders proposed a special capital repayment of RM3 a share in a move to privatise it.

Semicon and tech-linked stocks fared well, with KESM gaining 38 sen to RM17.58, MPI 32 sen to RM12.30 and Vitrox 23 sen to RM7.76.

Sapura Energy fell to fresh lows, down 2.5 sen to 35 sen with 296 million shares done as investors shunned the RM4bil cash call.