Plantations rally, KLCI at fresh high

KUALA LUMPUR: PLANTATION rallied in the morning session on Tuesday, Jan 4, with laggard IOI Corp jumping on the bandwagon following positive outlook for the sector and crude palm oil (CPO) prices despite the profit taking.

At 11.56am, the FBM KLCI was up 11.69 points to 1,545.11, whch was another fresh historic high. Turnover was 807.81 million shares valued at RM1.07 billion. There were 463 gainers, 235 losers and 287 stocks unchanged.

Heavyweight Sime Darby advanced 49 sen to RM9.44, KL Kepong added 40 sen to RM22.78, Chin Tek 25 sen to RM8.80, IOI Corp 23 sen to RM6.06 and Kulim 20 sen to RM12.68.

CPO retreated RM25 to RM3,809.

OSK Research upgraded its target price for Kulim to RM14.75 from RM11.20 previously to factor in its higher CPO price assumption.

The research house said although the stock has outperformed the sector in the past two to three months, its valuation remains inexpensive; hence it is maintaining its Buy call. (theedgemalaysia.com)