KUALA LUMPUR: Late fund buying of power giant Tenaga Nasional and CIMB pushed the FBM KLCI to a higher close on Monday, tracking the key Asian markets.

At 5pm, the KLCI was up 8.64 points or 0.52% to 1,672.68. Turnover surged to 2.63 billion shares valued at RM1.85bil, mainly due to UEM Sunrise and DRB-Hicom call warrants. 

The broader market was firmer with 455 gainers to 370 losers and 349 counters unchanged.

The ringgit was weaker against the US dollar but firmed up against the pound sterling, Singapore dollar and the Euro. It was at 4.0373 to the greenback from 4.0295 but it strengthened against the pound to 5.2666 from 5.2926 and it was at 2.9963 to the Singapore unit from 3.0048. The local unit climbed too 4.4760 to the Euro from 4.4919.

On the external front, Hong Kong stocks advanced to eight-month highs on Monday, tracking gains in Asian markets, as strong US jobs data on Friday lifted investors' risk appetite globally, Reuters reported.

China shares rose as a surge in coal stocks and sustained interest in property shares ignited by drama involving a major developer offset the impact of worse-than-expected trade data.

At Bursa Malaysia, Tenaga closed up 16 sen to RM14.58 and added 1.54 points to the KLCI. IHH Healthcare added six sen to RM6.59.

CIMB advanced 10 sen to RM4.52 and pushed the index up 1.48 points. Public Bank rebounded to added six sen to RM19.64, Hong Leong Bank added four sen to RM13.08, RHB Banbk one sen to RM5.01 but Maybank fell two sen to RM7.98.

MBSB was the most active, ending the day up 7.5 sen to 92 sen after it peformed better on the second quarter compared with the first quarter due to lower provisions for impairments.

As for telcos, Maxis rose nine sen to RM6.24 and nudged the KLCI up 1.15 points, Telekom added one sen to RM6.80 while Digi and Axiata were flat at RM4.96 and RM5.70.

Crude palm oil for third-month delivery rose RM40 to RM2,447 per tonne. PPB Group rose 20 sen to RM16.38 RM16.38, Sime and KL Kepong gained 10 sen each to RM7.70 and RM23.22 but IOI Corp shed five sen to RM4.40.

Among the consumer stocks. BAT was the top gainer, up RM1.76 to RM51.96 and gave the KLCI a 0.84 point of a boost while Carlsberg rose 26 sen to RM15. F&N fell 46 sen to RM24.04, extending its loss from Friday on concerns abut the impact of the higher sugar price.

US light crude oil rose 53 cents to US$42.33 and Brent gained 48 cents to US$44.75. Petronas Dagangan rose 16 sen to RM23.34, Petronas Gas edged up two sen to RM22 and Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM6.60.

DRB-Hicom closed off the intra-day's high of RM1.24, ending the day up five sen to RM1.16 in very active trade. The shares rallied on a weekly news report thet DRB-Hicom could be selling its entire stake in loss-making Proton but another report stated later Monday that this was not likely. The EPF was also seen taking profit following the run-up in the share price. The call warrants C20 rose four sen to 11 sen.

UEM Sunrise call warrants also jumped in active trade, with C28 up 4.5 sen to 10 sen and C29 up one sen to four sen.

Among the key regional markets,

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rallied 2.44% to 16,650.57;

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 1.57% to 22,494.76;

CSI 300 gained 0.91% to 3,234.18;

Shanghai’s Composite Index added 0.93% to 3,004.28;

Shenzhen Composite gained 1.06% to 1,962.26;

Hang Seng China Enterprise ended up 1.59% to 9,276.56; 

Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.64% to 9,150.26;

South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.65% 2,031.12;

Singapore’s Straits Times Index ended up 1.51% to 2,870.78.

Spot gold fell US$4.51 to US$1,331.49.