29/10/2014 (The Star) - Plantation stocks advanced on Wednesday, as investor sentiment was underpinned by the B7 biodiesel plan and upswing in crude palm oil (CPO) prices to the highest since August.

At 12.30pm, the KLCI was up 11.93 points or 0.65% to 1,837.61. Turnover was 1.18 billion shares valued at RM929.20mil. There were 507 gainers, 187 losers and 272 counters unchanged.

Key Asian markets notched gains of up to 1.8%. Reuters reported the advance in key regional markets were helped by Wall Street, which gained on optimism over corporate earnings, and prospects the US Federal Reserve will reaffirm its willingness to wait longer before raising interest rates.

CPO for third month delivery rose RM12 to RM2,225 which was the highest since Aug 8.

KL Kepong rose 48 sen to RM22.94, Batu Kawan and PPB Group gained 32 sen each to RM18.32 and RM15.08 while FGV added eight sen to RM3.56 and IOI Corp six sen to RM4.80.

Banks and finance stocks were higher with HLFG adding 36 sen to RM18, HL Bank 18 sen to RM14.26 and CIMB 17 sen to RM6.37 while RHB Capital added 11 sen to RM8.85 and Public Bank four sen to RM18.60.

Among consumer stocks, BAT rose the most, advancing 20 sen to RM70.10 but Nestle fell 50 sen to RM68.

Crude oil notched slight gains, with US crude up 35 cents to US$81.77 and Brent 36 cents to US$86.39. Petronas Gas and Petronas Dagangan rose 16 sen to RM20.10 and RM22.04, SapuraKencana added eight sen to RM3.47 and Petronas Chemicals six sen to RM6.16.

The ringgit strengthened to 3.2687 from 3.2745.

Among the key regional markets,

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.48% to 15,557.44;

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.36% to 23,839.22;

Shanghai’s Composite Index rose 1.38% to 2,370.13;

Taiwan’s Taiex rose 1.3% to 8,887.86;

South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.79% to 1,960.11;

Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.28% to 3,220.58;

Spot gold gained US$1.43 to US$1,229.95.