KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips fell early Thursday, weighed down by losses in Genting Bhd
, Kuala Lumpur Kepong and HLFG as investor sentiment remained weak due to the decline in the ringgit and fresh batch of mostly weaker corporate results.
At 9.30am, the KLCI was down five points or 0.31% to 1,625.38. Turnover was 154.57 million shares valued at RM67mil. There were 138 gainers, 174 losers and 181 counters unchanged.
China set its official yuan midpoint at 6.9085 per dollar prior to the market open on Thursday, its weakest level since June 2008. The previous fix was at 6.8904, Reuters reported.
The news wire also reported MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan pulled back from a 12-day high scaled the previous day to dip 0.2% facing the prospect of higher U.S. interest rates diverting money from emerging markets.
Crude oil prices recovered some of their losses. US crude was up 0.2% at US$48.04 a barrel after losing the same amount on Wednesday.
Kenanga Investment Bank Research said domestic sentiment is still fragile at this point of time as depicted by the weaker broader market on Wednesday.
The weak sentiment was mainly due to the continued decline in the Ringgit against major currencies worldwide and lukewarm outcome from Bank Negara's decision to maintain the OPR at 3.0%.
“Technically speaking, the KLCI is still caught within its consolidation zone on the back of monotonous momentum indicators. Bias is still leaning towards the downside given the absence of strong bulls in the market.
“From here, we continue to view that the KLCI will continue on its sideways consolidation within 1,620-1,640 this week with downside-bias. Key resistance levels are still spotted at 1,640 (R1) followed by 1,662 (R2), while support levels are located at 1,630 (S1) and 1,620 (S2),” it said.
BAT fell 60 sen to RM43.90, Panasonic Malaysia lost 42 sen to RM35.48 and F&N was down20 sen to RM23.40 in very thin trade.
KL Kepong and HLFG lost 18 sen each to RM23.56 and RM14.92 while Genting Bhd was down eight sen to RM8.07.
AppAsia lost 2.5 sen to 29 sen and its warrants three sen lower at 20 sen.
Green Packet gained 1.5 sen to 27.5 sen and it was the most active with 21.9 million shares after its stronger earnings.
FGV eked out a one sen gain to RM1.56 after the recent corporate news and weaker results.
PPB Group added 14 sen to RM15.90 and Genting Plantations cinbed six sen to RM10.58.
Petronas Dagangan rose 20 sen to RM23.78, MBM Resources seven sen to RM2.50 and Chee Wah six sen to RM1.28.
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