Blue chips firmer, Tanjong, MISC up

KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips held on to their gains at the midday break on Tuesday, Feb 2, with Tanjong and MISC among the gainers on some mild buying support while the overall breadth of the market was firmer.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI rose 5.27 points or 0.42% to 1,264.43. Turnover was 483.77 million shares done valued at RM636.7 million. There were 363 gainers, 244 losers and 227 stocks unchanged.

Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1.24% to 10,331.72, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 0.22% to 20,287.31 while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.05% to 2,972.32 but Singapore's Straits Times Index fell 0.12% to 2,732.93.

Light crude oil rose 19 US cents to US$74.62 while crude palm oil futures shed RM5 to RM2,436. US spot gold fell US$5.04 to US$1,100.46.

At Bursa, sentiment perked up in the morning session with mild trading interest seen in small-cap stocks including consumer companies like Hai-O, Padini and Zhulian.

Tanjong rose 22sen to RM17.58 while BAT also added 22 sen to RM42.32 while MISC managed to snap its recent losing streak, adding 17 sen to RM8. Batu Kawan added 16 sen to RM10.50.

OIB rose 21 sen to RM1.60 in thin volume while Hai-O added 18 sen to RM8.55 and Zhulian 13 sen to RM2.17. Padini rose 13 sen to RM3.88.

LCL was the most active with 48.5 million shares done, up five sen to 31 sen. Interest in the company was based on a statement last Friday about a potential investor, US-based contractor KHS&S, as part of the group's plan to regularise its financial condition.

However, CIMB Equities Research said LCL Corp remained very much an "underperform" given its continuing collection problems in Dubai and high net gearing of 4.7 times.

Linear added 6.5 sen to 60.5 sen despite being queried by Bursa Securities over its unusual market activity.

Dutch Lady fell 38 sen to RM11.62 while PPB lost 24 sen to RM15.74 after Wilmar shelved its China IPO plan.