KUALA LUMPUR: Asian markets were firmer in early trade on May 15, underpinned by the strong overnight close on Wall Street while at Bursa Malaysia, BCHB and Tenaga nudged blue chips higher.

At 10am, the KL Composite Index had risen 3.93 points to 1,015.92. Turnover was 514.24 million shares valued at RM300 million. There were 188 gainers, 193 losers and 194 stocks unchanged.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index opened 1.9% higher at 16,854.07, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.66% to 9,244.97, Shanghai’s Composite Index inched up 0.31% to 2,648.16 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index jumped 2.18% higher to 2,168.42.

Light crude oil rose eight cents to US$58.70.

BAT was the top gainer, rising 25 sen to RM42, Tanjong, IJM and Kossan 10 sen higher to RM14.20, RM5.20 and RM3.54. UMCCA rose 20 sen to RM6.50, PPB and KLK 10 sen higher to RM11.20 and RM11.30.

BHCB advanced 15 sen to RM9 and AMMB eight sen to RM3.22 while Tenaga was 10 sen higher to RM7.35.

TA-WB was actively traded with 47.4 million units done, tumbling one sen to five sen. However, the other active stocks notched up some gains, with JAKS rising sinc sen to 72.5 sen, PJ Bumit four sen to 40.5 sen and Scomi one sen to 73.5 sen.

DiGi fell 10 sen to RM22.10, Naka seven sen to 63 sen while MAHB, SP Setia and TRC shed six sen each to RM3.08, RM3.74 and RM1.25 respectively.