KUALA LUMPUR: Investor sentiment was given a huge boost early Thursday, with Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) and Petronas Gas Bhd leading the FBM KLCI, after the overnight surge on Wall Street.At 9.30am, the KLCI was up 8.91 points or 0.54% to 1,667.64. Turnover was 297.04 million shares valued at RM166.67mil. There were 298 gainers, 110 losers and 233 counters unchanged.Asian shares surged on Thursday, taking their cue from Wall Street, after the Federal Reserve left US interest rates unchanged and slowed the pace of future hikes, slugging the dollar and lifting commodity prices, Reuters reported.MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan advanced 0.9% in its sixth straight session of gains.Oil prices extended gains from the previous session in Asian trading on Thursday after a surprise third consecutive weekly US crude inventory draw tightened the market, Reuters reported.US light crude oil futures were trading at US$45.59 per barrel at 0045 GMT, up 25 cents while Brent crude futures were also up, gaining 27 cents from their last close to US$47.10 per barrel.Kenanga Investment Bank Research said while the FBM KLCI is still caught in its sideways consolidation zone on the back of uneventful technical indicators, it could likely garner some spillover hype from the overnight rally in Wall Street after the US Fed has decided to maintain its interest rate.“Hence, we expect the FBM KLCI to trade on a positive note today given the double announcement boost from the two central banks, with resistance level seen at 1,662 (R1) followed by 1,680 (R2). Support levels are seen at 1,650 (S1) and 1,643 (S2),” it said.Among the KLCI stocks, MAHB rose the most, up 36 sen to RM7.10, BAT added 20 sen to RM49, Petronas Gas gained 16 sen to RM21.72, HLFG and KL Kepong advanced 12 sen each to RM15.98 and RM23.92.SWS Cap surged 23 sen to RM1.38 while Cepco added 20 sen to RM1.80 and DKSH 13 sen to RM5.69.

Source: The Star September 22, 2016 01:41 UTC