KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips were mostly lower at midday on Monday, starting November on a cautious note, tracking the key regional markets with plantations and oil and gas counters in the red.
At 12.30pm, the KLCI was down 2.56 points or 0.15% to 1,663.15. Turnover was 1.44 billion shares valued at RM852.33mil. There were 366 gainers, 382 losers and 294 counters unchanged.
The ringgit firmed up slightly against the US dollar to 4.2930 from the previous close of 4.3012 while it weakened to 6.6243 against the pound sterling from 6.5915. It was at 3.0655 to the Singapore dollar from 3.0659.
Consumer stocks were mostly lower, with BAT down 58 sen to RM61.24, Carlsberg lost 26 sen to RM12.16 and Nestle 24 sen lower at RM72.08.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery rose RM4 to RM2,367.
Plantations were mostly lower led by KL Kepong, down 22 sen to RM22.56 while Genting Plantations lost 20 sen to RM10.50, PPB Group 16 sen to RM15.30 and Sime Darby two sen to RM8.34 but IOI Corp added four sen to RM4.30,
US light crude oil fell 24 cents to US$46.35 and Brent was flat at US$49.56. Petronas Dagangan lost 10 sen to RM22.40, Petronas Gas eight sen lower at RM22.90 and Petronas Chemicals five sen to RM6.30.
Banks were mixed as Hong Leong Bank lost 20 sen to RM13.78, AmBank fell six sen to RM4.72, CIMB two sen to RM4.59 but Maybank added four sen to RM8.30 while Public Bank and RHB Capital were flat at RM18.08 and RM6.10.
Among the telcos, TM was down eight sen to RM6.58, Axiata six sen to RM6.11, Maxis three sen lower at RM6.56 but DiGi gained one sen to RM5.27.
IHH Healthcare was among the gainers, adding 16 sen to RM6.47.
Poultry based Lay Hong jumped 45 sen to RM6.25 while Huat Lau added 30 sen to RM3.80.
Auto stock, Tan Chong added 20 sen to RM2.70 while SHH gained 17 sen to RM2.40.
Idimension Consolidated was flat at 11.5 sen in very active trade after the query from Bursa Securities.
AirAsia added one sen to RM1.49 in active trade as CIMB Research was upbeat about its prospects.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 2.06% to 18,689.50;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.6% to 22,504.08;
Shanghai’s Composite Index fell 0.02% to 3,381.82;
Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.37% to 8,585.91;
South Korea’s Kospi added 0.21% to 2,033.71 and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 1.38% to 2,956.85.
Spot gold fell 98 cents to US$1,141.13.
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