KUALA LUMPUR: Key Asian markets and Bursa Malaysia fell in Tuesday's morning session ahead of the US Federal Reserve meeting and rising worries about Britain's exit from the EU while crude oil prices fell.
At 12.30pm, the KLCI was down 3.57 points or 0.22% to 1,626.20. Turnover was 715.82 million shares valued at RM603.31mil. There were 205 gainers, 479 losers and 291 counters unchanged.
China and Hong Kong stocks sagged on Tuesday morning, extending losses after Monday's slump, as investors worry about China's economy and brace for a possible exit of Britain from the European Union, Reuters reported.
Although some expect US index publisher MSCI to add Chinese shares to its emerging market index later in the global day, many believe any positive market impact will probably be limited in the near term given the lead time required for global funds to switch their asset allocations, the report said.
The ringgit firmed up agains the US dollar but weakened against the pound sterling, Singapore dollar and the euro.
It was at 4.0892 to the greenback from 4.0903 the previous day. It slipped against the pound to 5.8009 from 5.7873; weakened against the Singapore unit to 3.0020 from 3.0127 and fell against the euro to 4.6139 from 4.6097.
THe market has been coming under pressure as foreign funds continued to reduce their shareholdings.
Maybank fell 10 sen to RM8.06 with 11.58 million shares done, erasing 1.67 points from the KLCI, CIMB and AmBank shed one sen each to RM4.39 and RM4.34, Hong Leong Bank was unchanged at RM13 but Public Bank rose six sen to RM19.10.
Bintulu Port fell the most, down 38 sen to RM6.62 with 2,000 shares in the absence of any serious negative news.
US light crude oil fell 51 cents to US$48.37 and Brent 45 cents lower at US$49.90. Petronas Dagangan added 20 sen to RM23.46, Petronas Gas rebounded 16 sen to RM21.56 and Petronas Chemicals was flat RM6.47.
Petron Malaysia
lost 23 sen to RM3.88 while SapuraKencana gave up three sen to RM1.52. MISC lost 11 sen to RM7.49.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery fell RM34 to RM2,494 per tonne. IJM Plantations fell nine sen to RM3.31, IOI Corp and KL Kepong six sen each to RM4.27 and RM23.02, Sime Darby two sen lower ay RM7.50 but PPB Group rose four sen to RM16.
As for telcos, Axiata rose five sen to RM5.55, Digi was flat at RM4.56, Maxis shed one sen to RM5.66 and Telekom gained one sen to RM6.67.
Westports lost eight sen to RM4.22 after it was placed under review by AmInvestment Bank following CMA CGM’s plans to shift traffic from Malaysia to Singapore.
Supermax lost nine sen to RM2.15.
AirAsia rose one sen to RM2.68 in active trade, its call warrants C33 lost 0.5 sen to 29.5 sen while AirAsia X edged up one sen to 37.5 sen.
As for consumer stocks, Apollo lost nine sen to RM5.66 but Dutch Lady and Heneiken added 12 sen each to RM56.92 and RM124.86.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 extended its decline, down 1.45% to 15,786.95;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index shed 0.25% to 20,461.57;
CSI 300 fell 0.25% to 3,058.70;
Shanghai’s Composite Index lost 0.25% to 2,826;
Shenzhen Composite slid 0.66% to 1,815.33;
Hang Seng China Enterprise eased 0.19% to 8,603.24;
Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.33% to 8,564.09;
South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.26% to 1,973.83 and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index lost 0.26% to 2,778.29.
Spot gold fell US$4.11 to US$1,279.75.
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