Blue chips marginally higher, autos, banks up

KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips were marginally higher in early trade on Friday, April 9, with trading interest focused on Scomi securities while auto stocks and banks advanced.

At 9.40am, the FBM KLCI rose 0.64 of a point to 1,333.57. Turnover was 161.64 million shares valued at RM147.85 million. There were 199 gainers, 105 losers and 178 stocks unchanged.

RHB Research said in line with its expectation, the FBM KLCI staged a technical pullback on Thursday after enjoying a bullish uptrend for 12 straight days.

“Sealed with a huge bearish candle, and the weakened momentum readings, this could point to a further pullback in the immediate term. Having said that, we expect bargain hunters to reemerge near the critical 10-day SMA support of 1,330 and near yesterday’s low of 1,331.46 soon,” it said in its technical outlook report.

However, it cautioned, a fall from the 10-day SMA will mean a negative change in the short-term trading sentiment. Should this happen, investors should consider exiting their short-term position.

“Lower and firmer supports are only seen near a technical gap of 1,305, and the solid psychological level of 1,300. Nevertheless, the overall market condition will remain favourable, if the index sustains at above the 10-day SMA. Also, it will be an upward advantage if the daily turnover maintains at above the 1.0bn shares mark,” it said.

Tan Chong, which had recently received positive reports from analysts, saw its share price climb 20 sen to RM4.21. Proton added 12 sen to RM4.95.

CIMB, which came under profit-taking on Thursday, managed to resume its upward trend, rising 10 sen to RM14.30 while RHB Cap added eight sen to RM5.97.

SunCity climbed 12 sen to RM3.88 as investors were positive about its multi-billion-ringgit REIT plan.

JAKS added 0.5 sen to 91 sen with 11.13 million shares done after inking a deal to built an independent power plant in Vietnam. KPS, which owns a large stake of JAKS, rose eight sen to RM1.58.

Scomi was the most active with 22 million shares done, down three sen to 51 sen while Scomi-WA fell one sen to 27 sen and Scomi-LA 0.5 sen lower at 11.5 sen.

Nestle fell the most, down 64 sen to RM35.32, Panasonic Malaysia 14 sen lower at RM15.84 while POS gave up 12 sen to RM3.12 on profit taking.