KLCI rises in line with region, looks to close November on monthly gain

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 30): The main index at Bursa Malaysia rose in early trade Monday in line with the region and looked set to close November on a monthly gain.

At 9.05am, the FBM KLCI was up 1.52 points to 1,609.11.

The early gainers included Nestle (M) Bhd, VitRox Corp Bhd, Petronas Gas Bhd, Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd, IOI Property Group Bhd, Scientex Bhd, British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Hong Leong Bank Bhd and Hong Leong Capital Bhd.

Bloombergsaid stocks in Asia climbed along with U.S. equity futures as investors monitored progress on the path to a coronavirus vaccine on the final day of a record month for global equities.

Oil retreated, it said.

Rakuten Trade in its daily market report said Wall Street ended the week on a high amid the positive vaccine developments and decreasing political uncertainty in the US.

It said the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 38 points higher to a tad off the 30,000 mark.

Nonetheless, it said the positive opening of the US futures may give some hope to regional markets today.

“Locally, the FBM KLCI is expected to start on a stronger footing following some profit taking last Friday.

“The benchmark index is expected to test the 1,610 today with the next resistant at 1,620.

“Meanwhile, November is set to be a record month for crude palm oil this year as price remains firmly above the RM3,400/metric tonne.

“Meanwhile the ringgit is also expected to continue with its uptrend against the USD with RM4.00 as the next target from RM4.07 currently,” it said.