Blue chips advance, Tenaga, MISC lead

KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips started the new week on Monday, April 12 on a strong note, encouraged by gains on Wall Street, and after a rescue package was put together for debt-laden Greece.

At 10am, the FBM KLCI was up 7.89 points to 1,341.87. Turnover was 235.84 million shares valued at RM226.94 million. There were 291 gainers, 127 losers and 201 stocks unchanged.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index opened 0.8% higher at 22,388.77 while Japan's Nikkei 225 added 0.98% to 11,314.42 and Singapore's Straits Times Index gained 0.27% to 2,979.89.

HwangDBS Vickers Research said the FBM KLCI, after touching a high of 1,347.61 last Wednesday, the key FBM KLCI pulled back to settle at 1,333.98 on Friday and raised the question whether the market correction be over already.

"There is a possibility that our Malaysian bourse will resume its uptrend ahead. This may be the case if the benchmark index cuts above the 1,340 resistance line in a convincing manner, making its way then towards the next resistance of 1,375," it said.

HwangDBS Vickers Research said it expected share prices on the local stock exchange to turn up today following Wall Street's buoyant performance on Friday, which lifted major U.S. equity barometers to close at fresh highs since the bull run started in March last year.

Light crude oil was up 49 cents to US$85.41.

At Bursa Malaysia, Tan Chong continued its winning streak from last week, rising 34 sen to RM4.96 while related companies Warisan gained 28 sen to RM2.83 and APM 26 sen to RM4.60.

PPB added 26 sen to RM17.90, Tenaga 24 sen to RM8.75 while the proposed listing of MISC's heavy engineering unit saw the shares climb 22 sen to RM8.71. SunCity added 16 sen to RM4.24 on its proposed REIT while Tanjong added 14 sen to RM18.44.

Talam was the most active with 16.39 million shares done, unchanged at 13 sen.

Among the decliners were Hartalega, down 12 sen to RM8.06 and Kossan eight sen to RM7.91 after analysts downgraded the counters as the valuations seemed expensive after the sectors several months of rally.

Hong Leong Bank lost 11 sen to RM8.68 and UMW shed five sen to RM6.40.