Malaysian shares shrugged off early losses to finish at a three-week high on Monday, boosted by market heavyweight Malaysia International Shipping Corp Bhd.
The benchmark Composite Index rose 0.79 percent to 827.98 points on volume of 256 million shares worth 601 million ringgit ($158 million).
Dealers said bargain-hunting for "cheap blue chips" boosted shares in MISC, the world's biggest liquefied natural gas carrier. The stock rose as much as 2.5 percent before trimming gains to end at 12.40 ringgit.
According to data from Reuters 3000 Xtra, MISC stock has a price-to-earnings ratio of less than 10 times, making it the only one among the market's top 10 shares with such a low P/E valuation.
Top lender Malayan Banking Bhd, which reported a 4.7 percent drop in fourth-quarter earnings to 646.72 million ringgit after the market close, was flat at 10.40 ringgit.
Shares of Malaysia's biggest power firm, Tenaga Nasional Bhd, fell as much as 2.5 percent to 9.75 ringgit before reversing losses to end flat at 10.0 ringgit.
The early drop in Tenaga stock price was due to some of the firm's employees selling their stock options, dealers said.
The stock exchange last week announced that 7.82 million new Tenaga shares, issued under its employee share option scheme, would start trading on Monday. Shares are typically sold under option to company staff at a discount to market prices.
Shares of pay-TV operator Astro All Asia Networks Plc gained 0.5 percent to end at 4.48 ringgit. The stock was in negative territory for most of the session after a media report said phone firm Telekom Malaysia Bhd would launch its broadband television this week.
Astro, controlled by tycoon Ananda Krishnan, currently holds a monopoly over the country's subscriber-based TV market, but its business is coming under threat from rivals like MiTV Corp which plans to launch its services in October.
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