KUALA LUMPUR: Selling pressure on SapuraKencana Petroleum and Genting Bhd
pushed the FBM KLCI into the red on Wednesday, believed to be from foreign funds, but Maybulk rallied on a turnaround in the dry bulk shipping industry.
At 5pm, the KLCI was down 1.07 points or 0.06% to 1,717.01. Turnover was 1.60 billion shares valued at RM1.94bil. There were 359 gainers, 434 losers and 397 counters unchanged.
Stock market data showed foreign funds were net sellers for the first time in many days, at -RM59.36mil. Local institutions and retail investors were net buyers at RM31.03mil and RM28.33mil.
Most key regional markets closed higher except for Japan and Taiwan. Hong Kong stocks were little changed on Wednesday, with financial shares curbing gains on the main index as investors await fresh cues for direction, Reuters reported.
The ringgit rose against the US dollar, pound sterling and Singapore dollar. It was at 3.9188 to the greenback from the previous close of 3.9235 while it strengthened against the pound to 5.5287 from 5.5844. It was firmer against the Singapore dollar at 2.8894 from 2.8922.
US light crude oil jumped US$1.04 to US$36.93 and Brent added 82 cents to US$38.69.
Leading oil producers plan to meet in Doha on April 17 to cement a preliminary deal reached between Russia, Venezuela, Qatar and Saudi Arabia in February to freeze oil output at levels reached in January, to curb a surplus on the oil market, Reuters reported.
SapuraKencana fell 13 sen to RM1.77 and erased 1.33 points from the KLCI. Industry observers earlier noted that the heavyweight was over its worst as future impairments expected are to be less significant than what it recorded for its fourth quarter ended Jan 31, 2016.
Petronas Gas rebounded 74 sen to RM22.62, Petronas Dagangan lost four sen to RM23.86 and Petronas Chemicals shed two sen to RM6.70.
Profit taking saw Genting slide 16 sen to RM9.40 and erase 1.02 points. MAHB lost 15 sen to RM6.50 but power giant Tenaga gained eight sen to RM14.18.
Panasonic Malaysia was the top loser, down 34 sen to RM27.90, Pintaras fell 25 sen to RM3.40 and Lay Hong 22 sen to RM9.26.
As for consumer stocks, Carlsberg lost 28 sen to RM13.60 but BAT jumped RM1.08 to RM56.02.
Maybulk surged 12.5 sen to 93 sen with 36.5 million shares done, the most in recent weeks, as anlaysts were upbeat about the dry bulk carrier as the sector sees a turnaround.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery fell RM34 to RM2,722 per tonne. KL Kepong rose 40 sen to RM24.50, NSOP 14 sen to RM4.08, IOI Corp three sen to RM4.58 but PPB Group lost four sen to RM16.40 amd Sime Darby seven sen to RM7.85.
Among the banks, AmBank fell the most, down 14 sen to RM4.42, CIMB three sen to RM4.82 but RHB Cap edged up one sen to RM6, Hong Leong Bank and Maybank added one sen each to RM13.42 and RM9.01 and Public Bank six sen higher to RM19.02.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.11% to 15,715.36;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.15% to 20,206.67;
Shanghai’s Composite Index fell 0.08% to 3,050.59;
Taiwan’s Taiex fell 1.67% to 8,513.30
South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.44% to 1,971.71 and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.37% to 2,811.25.
Spot gold lost US$5.89 to US$1,225.46.
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