KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips remained under pressure on Monday as sentiment took a hit from the weak regional markets, with the FBM KLCI falling more than 10 points.
The KLCI was dragged down by losses in power giant Tenaga Nasional, Maybank and Sime Darby, as overall trading value on the stock exchange rose to nearly RM3.8bil, mainly due to blue chips.
At 5pm, the KLCI was down 10.43 points or 0.62% to 1,672.16 while for the month, it was up 6.45 points or 0.39%.
Turnover was 2.5 billion shares valued at RM3.78bil. The broader market was cautious, with decliners beating advancers 679 to 270 while 281 counters were unchanged.
Most Southeast Asian stock markets tracked weaker Asian shares lower to near one-week lows while investors cut holdings in energy shares in the region amid weak global oil prices, Reuters reported.
On the external front, Hong Kong stocks dipped on Monday, with investor sentiment soothed after mainland markets ended a volatile session in positive territory.
The ringgit weakened against the US dollar to 4.2600 from the previous close of 4.2535 while its firmed up against the pound sterling and Singapore dollar. It was at 6.3988 to the pound from 6.4146 while against the iIngapore unit it was at 3.0167 from 3.0172.
t Bursa Malaysia, funds took profit on Tenaga – which has been one of the top performers in November – and sent the power copany down 24 sen to RM13.36 and erasing 2.3 points from the KLCI.
Top bank, Maybank fell 12 sen to RM8.32 and wiped out 1.99 points from the KLCI. CIMB lost five sen to RM4.50, AmBank lost five sen to RM4.59 while RHB Cap was flat at RM5.56. Public Bank added 12 sen to RM18.38.
Hong Leong Bank ordinary rights shares fell 31 sen as entitled shareholders sold but the share price of Hong Leong Bank rose 29 sen to RM13.56 and HLFG rose 46 sen to RM14.
Crude palm oil for third month futures fell RM22 to RM2,340 per tonne. Batu Kawan lost 30 sen to RM17.28, Sime Darby fell 14 sen to RM7.91, PPB Group eight sen lower at RM15.80 while IOI Corp shed one sen to RM4.35. KL Kepong rose 14 sen to RM22.94.
As for telcos, Digi lost 12 sen to RM5, TM was nine sen lower at RM6.51, Axiata one sen to RM6.13 but Maxis edged up one sen to RM6.56.
US light crude oil fell six cents to US$41.65 and Brent seven cents lower at US$44.79. SK Petro lost 11 sen to RM2.14, giving up most of the recent gains as oil prices slid. Petronas Gas was down eight sen to RM22.92, Petronas Dagnagan was flat at RM25 while Petronas Chemicals inched up two sent to RM6.74. Uzma lost 16 sen to RM2.01.
IHH Healthcare lost nine sen to RM6.51.
Consumer stocks also came under pressure, with BAT down 64 sen to RM57.86, Dutch Lady
shed 20 sen to RM48.50.
Latitude Tree, which is a furniture makers, fell 21 sen to RM7.43.
MWE rose 20 sen to RM1.59 after tycoon Tan Sri Surin Upatkoon and Pinjaya Sdn Bhd made a takeover offer for RM391mil in cash and deferred amount.
XOX, which was queried by Bursa Securities over the heavy trading volume and fall in its share price, extended its losses to close 2.5 sen down to 31 sen.
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