KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s blue chips were unable to hold on to their recent gains at the close of trade on Thursday while the ringgit weakened slightly against the major currencies as light crude oil slumped.
The KLCI closed down 1.33 points or 0.08% to 1,683.09. Turnover was 2.33 billion shares valued at RM1.96bil. The broader market was mixed with 425 gainers, 439 losers and 359 counters unchanged.
Among the key regional markets, Hong Kong stocks ended barely changed on Thursday, as most Asian markets stabilised after jitters over Turkey's downing of a Russian fighter jet abated, Reuters reported.
China stocks gave back early gains and ended lower on Thursday, as a retreat in small-caps in afternoon trading eclipsed a sharp rebound in resource shares.
While the ringgit firmed up against the Singapore dollar, it lost ground again to the US dollar and pound sterling. The ringgit was at 4.2218 to the US$ from 4.2098 on Wednesday while it weakened to 6.3692 against the pound from 6.3545. Against the Singapore dollar, it managed to stay above the 3.0 level to end Thursday at 2.9980 from 2.9992.
US light crude oil fell 13 cents to US$42.91 and Brent was lower by 42 cents to US$45.75. Petronas Chemical fell eight sen to RM6.84 and erased 1.08 points from the KLCI while Petronas Daganagan shed 10 sen to RM24.94 and Petronas Gas six sen lower at RM22.98. SK Petro rose three sen to RM2.23.
Among the penny stocks and lower liners involved in oil and gas, KNM rose 2.5 sen to 53.5 sen while Sumatec gained 0.5 sen to 14.5 sen.
As for banks, Maybank added seven sen to RM8.48 and nudged the KLCI up 1.16 points. RHB Cap rose four sen to RM5.59, Public Bank and Hong Leong Bank two sen higher to RM18.26 and RM13.30 but AmBank was flat at RM4.62.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery rose RM35 to RM2,333 per tonne.
KL Kepong was the top loser among the plantation stocks, down 12 sen to RM22.66 while BLD Plantations lost 10 sen to RM5.07.PPB Group and IOI Corp were flat at RM15.62 and RM4.16.
Chip maker MPI fell 16 sen to RM8.04 while property based Plenitude was down 10 sen to RM1.90. Genting Malaysia fell seven sen to RM4.31 and Genting Bhd
three sen lower at RM7.30.
Among the consumer stocks, Ajinomoto gained 40 sen to RM6.80, Calrsberg 12 sen to RM11.40.
Glove makers manager to stage a mild rebound with Top Glove added 21 sen to RM9.50.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed up 0.49% to 19,944.41;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.04% to 22,488.94;
Shanghai’s Composite Index fell 0.34% to 3,635.55;
Taiwan’s Taiex jumped 1.18% to 8,484.90;
South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.06% to 2,030.68 and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.24% to 2,884.69.
Spot gold inched up 52 cents to US$1,071.64.
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