KUALA LUMPUR: MISC and Petronas stocks were the top losers at midday on Monday as the FBM KLCI slumped nearly six points, tracking the mixed key regional markets after China's weak trade data, but Maybank and Public Bank helped stem the losses.
At 12.30pm, the KLCI was down 5.89 points or 0.36% to 1,643.47, with MISC erasing more than five points from the KLCI. Turnover was 901.15 million shares valued at RM557.67mil. There were 289 gainers, 349 losers and 346 counters unchanged.
The ringgit firmed up against the major currencies. It was at 4.0015 versus last Friday's 4.0043; while the pound sterling was at 5.7788 from 5.8064 while it advanced to 2.9378 to the Singapore dollar from 2.9475. Against the euro, it firmed up to 4.5665 from 4.5760.
China stocks tumbled again on Monday morning, reaching eight-month lows, as investors saw hopes for a strong economic recovery fade and worried about fresh regulatory curbs against speculation.
At Bursa, MISC fell the most, down 73 sen to RM7.61 with 4.9 million shares done and wiped out 5.46 points from the KLCI while its call warrants MISC-C6 plunged 10.5 sen to 4.5 sen.
US light crude oil rose 86 cents to US$45.52 while Brent added 63 cents to US$46.
However, the gains in crude oil prices did not lift the Petronas stocks. Petronas Dagangan lost 44 sen to RM22.96, Petronas Gas fell 40 sen to RM21.20 while Petronas Chemicals lost 31 sen to RM6.10. SK Petro was flat at RM1.61.
Among the banks, Public Bank rose 12 sen to RM19.08, Maybank eight sen to RM8.75, CIMB Group
six sen to RM4.72 and Hong Leong Bank was flat at RM13.36.
Maxis fell seven sen to RM5.47, Axiata and Telekom one sen each lower to RM6.62 while Digi was flat at RM4.40.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery advanced RM29 to RM2,657. Sime Darby was flat at RM7.61, IOI Corp lost two sen to RM4.28, KL Kepong eight sen to RM22.90 but PPB Group added two sen to RM5.88.
AirAsia X-WA rose 1.5 sen to 24.5 sen with 63.41 million shares done while its shares were up two sen to 38 sen. AirAsia added eight sen to RM2.10.
Consumer stocks were among the top gainers, led by Dutch Lady which rose 40 sen to RM53.50, F&N added 24 sen to RM22.48, BAT 22 sen to RM47.22 and Nestle 16 sen higher at RM75.16.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.75% to 16,228.10;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.52% to 20,213.93;
CSI 300 lost 1.71% to 3,076.76;
Shanghai’s Composite Index tumbled 2.23% to 2,848.16'
Shenzhen Composite fell 2.94% to 1,816.68;
Hang Seng China Enterprise edged up 0.03% to 8,474.33;
Taiwan’s Taiex shed 0.2% to 8,130.18;
South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.6% to 1,964.89 and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained 0.48% to 2,743.94.
Spot gold fell US$4.44 to US$1,284.55.
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