KUALA LUMPUR: Firm fund interest in Sime Plantation and Public Bank pushed the FBM KLCI above the key 1,600 level at the close on Monday amid a more cautious broader market.

At 5pm, the KLCI was up 3.03 points or 0.19% to 1,601.35. Turnover was relatively lacklustre at 1.60 billion shares valued at RM1.28bil. There were 330 gainers, 481 losers and 327 counters unchanged.

Sime Plantation rose 18 sen to RM4.71 and pushed the index uip 2.16 points, PPB Group 10 sen to RM18.56, KL Kepong gained four sen to RM24.22 but IOI Corp slipped four sen to RM4.22.

Public Bank added 26 sen to RM22.78 and gave the KLCI a 1.76 point boost, CIMB rose three sen to RM5.18, RHB Bank five sen to RM5.70, HL Bank six sen to RM19.26 while Maybank was flat at RM8.99 and AmBank slipped six sen to RM4.27.

Axiata and Digi, which are merging their South Asian and Malaysian operations, rose nine sen each to RM4.54 and RM4.69.

Genting Malaysia and Genting  added two sen each to RM3.11 and RM6.30.

Petronas Chemical fell 16 sen to RM8.59 and shaved off 2.3 points from the KLCI, Petronas Gas lost 12 sen to RM16.26 but Petronas Dagangan added two sen to RM24.60 while Dialog shed one sen to RM3.30.

On the external front, Hong Kong stocks eased, as investors stayed on the sidelines awaiting hints of further policy support to offset impacts of US-China trade war and cooling domestic demand, amid worries about the economy, Reuters reported. The Hang Seng index fell 0.24%, the Hang Seng China Enterprises index fell 0.41%.

Oil was trading below US$69 a barrel, as concern over the trade dispute and global economic outlook offset support from Middle East tensions and supply cuts.