Malaysian share prices closed 1.0 percent higher on Monday due to bargain hunting in selected blue chips such as financial, construction and mining-related stocks, dealers said. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index closed up 11.96 points at 1,201.02 and trading volume was low at 513 million shares, valued at 909 million ringgit (285 million dollars).
While advancers led decliners 426 to 237. The Malaysian ringgit was quoted at 3.2070 to 3.2110 against the US dollar. "The market was up on a technical rebound on Monday after recent losses," said Phua Kwee Hock, an analyst at SJ Securities. "The rising dollar and falling gold price helped to improve investor sentiment," he added.
Phua said falling commodity prices will help shift funds back to equities, while the rising dollar reflects sentiment that the US economy will soon recover. Maybank, Malaysia's largest bank by assets, was among the gainers, jumping 15 sen to 8.75 ringgit.
On Friday, Maybank said it would pay 430 million ringgit for 15 percent of Vietnam's An Binh Commercial Joint Stock Bank. Maybank said it may raise its equity interest in the Vietnamese bank to 20 percent, pending approval by the Vietnamese government. State-owned Telekom Malaysia gained 10 sen to 10.90 ringgit and national power utility Tenaga added five sen to 6.85 ringgit.
Bumputra-Commerce Holdings, which controls CIMB Bank, the second largest bank in Malaysia, rallied 35 sen to 9.80 ringgit. Mining-related stocks also posted handsome gains, with national shipping company MISC Bhd advancing 20 sen to 8.10 ringgit and small-cap Kencana Petroleum surging 18 sen to 1.57 ringgit.
Construction and property counters also did well, with SP Setia, one of the largest developers in Malaysia, rallying 20 sen to 3.64 ringgit while UEM World jumped 20 sen to 3.26 ringgit. Among other market heavyweights, Sime Darby, the world's largest oil palm grower, dropped five sen to 9.00 ringgit.
Comments
Comments are closed.