KL stocks mostly firmer

MALAYSIAN shares remained mostly firmer at mid-morning today with buying on key heavyweights and selected lower liners, dealers said. At 11.15 am, the benchmark Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) strengthened 18.38 points to 1,041.87 after opening lower at 1,022.81.

However, the market is expected to see some profit-taking later today after yesterday's gain which saw the key composite rising 1.3 per cent to 1,023.49, just below the eight-month high of 1,026.0 points posted on May 8. The Finance Index gained 199.44 points to 8,234.91, the Plantation Index rose 170.74 points to 5,316.58 and the Industrial Index went up 35.37 points to 2,303.75.

The FBMEmas increased 121.71 points to 6,940.98, the FBM30 advanced 139.76 points to 6,678.62, the FBM-MDQ dropped 16.65 points to 4,040.68 and the FBM2BRD was 8.27 points higher at 4,581.77. Gainers led losers by 322 to 174 while 190 counters were unchanged, 549 still untraded and 34 others suspended.

A total of 845.125 million shares worth RM806.734 million changed hands. Topping the actives list, KNM, TA-WB and SAAG lost half sen each to 80.5 sen, 5.5 sen and 37 sen respectively.Ramunia went up 2.5 sen to 61.5 sen and Jotech gained half sen to eight sen.

Among the heavyweights, Sime Darby and Tenaga Nasional advanced 20 sen each to RM6.90 and RM7.50. Maybank was 30 sen higher at RM5.35, Bumiputra-Commerce rose 15 sen at RM9.05, IOI Corp went up 18 sen to RM4.66 and IOI Corp increased 18 sen to RM4.66. -- Bernama