Malaysian share prices closed 0.78 percent higher on Monday in thin trade supported by interest in plantation and mining stocks on hopes of stronger earnings growth next year, dealers said.
Investors were also buoyed by moves to cut corporate tax rates by two percentage points over the next two years in the government's 2007 budget tabled last week, they said. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index gained 7.53 points to 968.22 and volume traded was 364.26 million shares valued at 665.94 million ringgit (182 million dollars).
Gainers outnumbered losers 378 to 342, with 310 stocks unchanged and 289 counters untraded. At the close, the ringgit was quoted at 3.6590/6640 to the dollar.
The acting head of research of SJ Securities, Cheah King Yoong, said the subdued trading volume was also due to weak sentiment among retail investors, after a sell-off in lower liners last month.
Among key blue chips, Maybank rose 0.10 ringgit or 0.89 percent to 11.30, Telekom Malaysia gained 0.10 ringgit or 1.1 percent to 9.20, while Tenaga was steady at 9.25 ringgit. Plantation stocks were broadly higher on hopes that higher crude palm oil prices will likely boost the sector's earnings next year.
Among palm oil producers, IOI Corp rose 0.80 ringgit or 4.73 percent to 17.70, Kuala Lumpur Kepong gained 0.20 ringgit or 1.74 percent to 11.70 and PPB Oil Palms rose 0.15 ringgit or 1.88 percent to 8.15.
Comments
Comments are closed.