KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia and the ringgit closed off their intra-day lows on Wednesday after Datuk Muhammad Ibrahim was picked to be the new governor of Bank Negara Malaysia.
At 5pm, the KLCI was down 0.16 of a point or 0.01% to 1,692.34, off the intra-day low of 1,682 while key Asian markets were mostly lower. However, the jump in crude oil prices also supported the recovery.
Turnover was 1.73 billion shares valued at RM1.87bil. The broader market improved with advancers leading decliners 407 to 379 while 367 counters were unchanged.
The ringgit rebounded against the major currencies and firmed up to 3.9150 to the US dollar from 3.9290 the previous day and was at 5.7128 against the pound sterling from 5.7251. It was at 2.9011 to the Singapore unit from 2.9063 and advanced against the euro to 4.4323 from 4.4369.
Nomura Global Markets Research said that Muhammad, who will take over on May 1, “is the most qualified candidate and will require a shorter transition period than any of the other candidate, in our view”.
It also said this was because Muhammad was a deputy governor and a member of the monetary policy committee under governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz Zeti who retires on April 30 after 16 years.
“Given that it’s an internal appointment, we should expect a continuation of policy that’s been set by Zeti," Bloomberg quoted Sim Moh Siong, a foreign-exchange strategist at Bank of Singapore Ltd as saying. "Overall this is a market-friendly appointment.”
At Bursa Malaysia, blue chips slipped on profit taking by funds. Maxis fell 10 sen to RM5.75 and erased 1.28 points from the KLCI. Digi lost eight sen to RM4.45, Telekom was flat at RM6.69 and Axiata added eight sen to RM5.80.
BAT fell the most, down RM2.40 to RM52.10 and erased 1.17 points from the KLCI. MISC ended down 14 sen to RM8.59, Tenaga was flat at RM14.40 but Genting Bhd
shed two sen to RM9.05.
Among the banks, AFG lost 14 sen to RM4.05, Hong Leong Bank fell 12 sen to RM13.48, Public Bank eight sen to RM18.76, AmBank five sen to RM4.51 and Maybank two sen to RM8.95. However, CIMB climbed 11 sen to RM4.84 and pushed the KLCI up 1.64 points.
AirAsia rose 10 sen to RM2.01, AirAsia X warrants two sen higher at 21 sen and the shares up 1.5 sen to 35.5 sen.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery fell RM42 to RM2,633 per tonne. Batu Kawan lost 10 sen to RM17.70 and PPB Group lost six sen to RM16.12 but KL Kepong rose two sen tp RM23.92, IOI Corp added four sen to RM4.41 and Sime Darby 10 sen to RM7.83.
US light crude oil jumped US$1.01 to US$45.05 and Brent gained US$1.22 to US$46.96. Petronas Daganagn lost four sen to RM23.80, Petronas Chemicals edged up one sen to RM6.70 and Petronas Chemicals gained six sen to RM21.94. SK Petro added three sen to RM1.77.
Spring Gallery came under selling pressure, sparked off by a query from Bursa Securities over last week's surge in share price. Its loan stocks fell 2.5 sen to 7.5 sen with 159 million units done while the shares skidded 13 sen to RM1.10.
On a more positive note, consumer stocks were among the gainers, with Dutch Lady up 88 sen to RM53.80, Ajinomoto 75 sen to RM10.40 and F&N 40 sen to RM22.60.
Chip maker MPI jumped 46 sen to RM7.32 after its stronger set of earnings while Unisem gained two sen to RM2.20 while Globetronics rose one sen to RM3.90.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.36% to 17,290.49;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.21% to 21,361.60;
CSI 300 fell 0.42% to 3,165.92;
Shanghai’s Composite Index was down 0.37% to 2,953.67;
Shenzhen Composite fell 0.29% to 1,876.51;
Hang Seng China Enterprise was up 0.24% to 9,037.48;
Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.22% to 8,563.05;
South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.21% to 2,015.40 and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index was down 0.69% to 2,874.72.
Spot gold rose US$2.55 to US$1,245.95.
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