KUALA LUMPUR: MISC, Public Bank and Sime Darby managed to hold on their gains at the close of morning session on March 17 despite the cautious broader market as investors took profit on Tanjong and KL Kepong.

At 12.30pm, the KL Composite Index was marginally 0.42 point higher at 841.30. Turnover was 131 million shares valued at RM225.3 million. There were 123 gainers, 204 losers and 183 counters unchanged.

Light crude oil fell 37 cents to US$46.98 while crude palm oil futures added RM26 to RM1,928.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 2.71% to 9,912.67, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.57% to 13,051.28 and Shanghai’s Composite Index gained 1.33% to 2,181.94 but Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.7% to 1,575.03.

There was some nibbling on MISC, Public Bank and Sime shares, especially Public Bank which had fallen in recent days due to concerns about the impact of a weakening economy on its earnings.

MISC rose 20 sen to RM8.40 with 81,900 shares done. Public Bank and its foreign shares rose 15 sen each to RM7.30 and RM7.35 respectively while Sime added 15 sen to RM5.55.

F&N, which had come under selling pressure in recent weeks over the non-renewal contract with The Coca-Cola Company, rose 15 sen to RM7.80.

BToto shrugged off its earlier losses to end the day two sen higher at RM4.70.Research houses were divided on the outlook for the company.

Plantation stocks were mixed, with NSOP and Rimbunan Sawit adding eight sen each to RM3.44 and RM1.05. KLK fell 35 sen to RM9.95 and IOI Corp unchanged at RM3.74.

KNM was the most active with 11.4 million shares, adding 0.5 sen to 33 sen following its managing director Lee Swee Eng's statement that he would consider leading a management buyout as long as banks could raise the funds. AmResearch is maintaining its Sell call on KNM Group at 32.5 sen and fair value of 30 sen. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}

TMI extended its losing streak, down 10 sen to RM2.18 while Maybank was unchanged at RM3.98.

Kramat fell the most before its suspension, sliding 73 sen to RM1.72, BAT 25 sen to RM44 and Tanjong 20 sen to RM14. Takaful fell 18 sen to RM1.21 and Cworks 13 sen to 10 sen.