KUALA LUMPUR: Petronas Chemicals and Maxis underpinned the FBM KLCI's slim gains at midday on Wednesday while the broader market was weaker, in line with the cautious key Asian markets fdue to rising geopoliticals risks.

At 12.30pm, the KLCI was up 1.61 points to 1,737.45. Turnover was 2.11 billion shares valued at RM810.47mil. The broader market was weaker with decliners beating advancers three to two or 445  losers to 332 gainers while 379 counters were unchanged.

Oil prices rose on Wednesday, putting crude futures on track for their longest streak of gains since August 2016, as Saudi Arabia was reported to be lobbying OPEC and other producers to extend a production cut beyond the first half of 2017, Reuters reported.

The dollar fell broadly on Tuesday, nearly touching a five-month low against the Japanese yen, as geopolitical risk and declining US Treasury yields pushed traders out of the greenback, it said.

Petronas Chemicals rose five sen to RM7.68 and added 0.65 of a point to the KLCI while Petronas Dagangan inched up four sen each to RM24.08 but Petronas Gas fell four sen to RM19.64. Petron Malaysia added 17 sen to RM6.43.

Among the plantations, PPB Group rose 12 sen to RM16.66, KL Kepong was flat at RM24.46, IOI Corp shed one sen to RM6.03 and Sime Darby lost four sen to RM9.28.

As for banks, AmBank rose six sen to RM4.91, Hong Leong Bank up four sen to RM13.74, CIMB and Maybank flat at RM5.46 and RM8.98 while Public Bank lost four sen to RM19.94 and RHB Bank two sen to RM5.17.

Bursa, which benefits from the surge in trading, added 14 sen to RM9.69.

BAT was the top gainer, up 68 sen to RM46.80 while Cocoland added 11 sen to RM2.72,.

MUI Industries fell two sen to 26 sen with 158.75 million shares done. Hubline and HWGB were flat at 8.5 sen and seven sen while Sersol added four sen to 27 sen.

Profit taking saw KESM shedding 12 sen to RM12.36 in thin trade while Aeon Credit fell 10 sen to RM15.56 and Superlon was down nine sen to RM3.50. JHM lost eight sen to RM3.95.

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