Asian markets mostly up at midday

KUALA LUMPUR: Asian markets were mostly up at midday Tuesday on improved consumer sentiments on the back of expectations of better than estimated third quarter earnings across the board.

Bloomberg also said in a report on Tuesday that Asian stocks rose lifting the MSCI Asia Pacific Index from a two-week low as the dollar advanced against the yen and Taiwan said it may allow Chinese investors to buy stakes in its flat-panel and computer-chip industries.

At home, the benchmark KLCI was 0.09% higher at 1,207.03 while Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 1.58% to 2,670.70. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 advanced 0.71% to 10,080.20, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 2.25% to 21,051.87, Shanghai’s A share index dropped 0.88% to 2,739.22 and Seoul’s Kospi Index was 0.86% higher at 1,690.02. At Bursa Malaysia, 309 counters were up, 198 were down while 230 others were traded unchanged. There were 306.92 million shares done with a total value of RM317.68 million.

Gainers included BAT, which rose 38 sen to RM44.98, HaiO climbed 20 sen to RM5.62, PetDag advanced 12 sen to RM8.55, Tanjong added 10 sen to RM15 and Pos Malaysia was 10 sen higher at RM2.21. Among plantation stocks, KL Kepong was up 4 sen to RM13.82 while BKawan added 2 sen to RM9.22. Crude palm oil was up RM12 to RM2,115 per tonne.

Nymex crude oil in electronic trade added 1 cents to US$66.85 per barrel. The ringgit was quoted at 3.487 to the US dollar.