Bursa joins Asian markets’ rally on US-China trade deal

KUALA LUMPUR: Key Asian markets and Bursa Malaysia rallied early Friday with Petronas-linked stocks and Tenaga Nasional underpinning the advance as stormy clouds over the US-China trade deal lifted.

At 9.21am, the FBM KLCI was up 10.47 points or 0.67% to 1,577.81. Turnover was 365.85 million shares valued at RM139.35mil. There were 293 gainers, 121 losers and 215 counters unchanged.

Asian share markets jumped as a last-gasp US-China trade deal and a likely major election win by Britain’s Conservative Party looked to have cleared a couple of dark clouds from the global horizon, Reuters reported.

The double dose of relief slugged safe-haven sovereign bonds and the Japanese yen, even leading investors to scale back the chance of more interest rates cuts around the world.

At Bursa on Thursday, foreign funds turned net buyers at RM39.7mil while local retailers also net buyers at RM9mil but local institutions were net sellers at RM46.7mil.

Nestle was the top gainer, up 50 sen to RM145.90 while Dutch Lady gained 20 sen to RM50 but F&N slumped 12 sen to RM33.88 with just 100 shares done.

Serba Dinamik-WA surged 30 sen to 30.5 sen, Petronas Dagangan added 20 sen to RM23.98 and Petronas Gas 14 sen to RM16.54.

Tenaga Nasional climbed 16 sen to RM13.30, HL Bank 24 sen to RM17, HLFG 20 sen to RM16.70 and PPB Group 14 sen to RM18.54.

Chip-related stocks fell with KESM and MPI shedding 10 sen each to RM8.90 and RM11.40.

Source: TheStar