KUALA LUMPUR: Fund selling of Sime Darby, Malayan Banking (Maybank) and Axiata Group pushed the FBM KLCI into the red at the close on Wednesday on cautious market sentiment as the ringgit continued to weaken.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI was down 7.81 points or 0.48% to 1,619.12 – lowest in two weeks – and it is trading at a price-to-earnings of 16.8 times.
For the month, the 30-stock index is down 3.18% and year-to-date, it is down 8.02%. It the second worst performing market in Asia after China where its benchmark Shanghai Composite Index is down nearly 13.4%.
Turnover on Bursa was 1.88 billion shares while value of total transactions on Bursa jumped to RM3.23bil. There were 276 gainers, 526 losers and 315 stocks unchanged, reflecting the weaker market sentiment.
The ringgit fell against the major currencies and skidded to 4.4662 to the US dollar from the previous close of 4.6660. It fell against the pound sterling to 5.5787 from 5.5459 and weakened against the Singapore dollar to 3.1338 from 3.1271. It slipped to 4.7588 to the Euro from 4.7310.
Reuters reported that China's blue-chip stock index slid on Wednesday, snapping a seven-session winning streak, as raw material stocks tanked after commodity prices were hit by fears of a liquidity squeeze.
Panasonic Malaysia fell the most, down RM1.78 to RM32.80. Sam Engineering lost 28 sen to RM6.18 while MSC dropped 23 sen to RM3.87 and Bintulu Port gave up 21 sen to RM6.28.
UMW rebounded 27 sen to RM5.14 and IHH Healthcare added 19 sen to RM6.60.
However, Sime Darby fell 19 sen to RM7.96 and erased 2.15 points from the KLCI while Maybank's 12 sen loss to RM7.77 wiped out 2.08 points. Axiata lost 13 sen to RM4.19 and this saw 0.19 erased from the index. In total, 6.21 points were wiped out from the 30-stock index.
OPEC began on Wednesday debating a deal to curtail oil production in an effort to prop up the price of crude, with Iran and Iraq resisting pressure from Saudi Arabia to participate fully in any action, Reuters reported.
US light crude oil jumped US$2.31 to US$47.54 while Brent gained US$2.57 to US$48.95.
Petronas Dagangan fell 52 sen to US$23 and Petronas Gas 38 sen lower at RM20.98 while Petronas Chemicals edged up three sen to RM6.83. SapuraKencana rose three sen to RM1.44.
Among the consumer stocks, Dutch Lady added 52 sen to RM55.92 and BAT 16 sen higher at RM44.20. Nestle lost 54 sen to RM75.98.
However, Ajinomoto rebounded 52 sen to RM13.60 and it was the best performer on expectations of a windfall from the sale of its plot of land.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery rose RM26 to RM3,076 following the weaker ringgit. PPB Group lost eight sen to RM15.64, IOI Corp shed one sen to RM4.35 and KL Kepong was flat at RM23.88.
Among the banks, RHB Bank rose 25 sen to RM4.90, Hong Leong Bank added two sen to RM13.30, AmBank one sen higher at RM4.18 while Public Bank was flat at RM19.58 and CIMB fell five sen to RM4.57.
As for telcos, Axiata fell 13 sen to RM4.19, Digi eight sen lower at RM4.87, Telekom was flat at RM6.17 and Maxis rose six sen to RM5.97.
The Store jumped 40 sen to RM3.42, riding on the takeover by its major shareholder.
Ekowood rose 13 sen to 32 sen after its major shareholder offered to privatise it at 40 sen a share in exchange for new TSH Resources shares. TSH rose one sen to RM1.92.
The weakening ringgit saw export-oriented Top Glove climbing 23 sen to RM5.28 and Hartalega 20 sen higher at RM4.90.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 eked out a 0.01% gain to 18,308.48;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.23% to 22,789.77;
CSI 300 fell 0.73% to 3,538;
Shanghai’s Composite Index fell 1% to 3,250.03;
Hang Seng China Enterprise shed 0.08% to 9,838.06;
Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.53% to 9,240.71;
South Korea’s Kospi added 0.26% to 1,983.48 and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained 0.86% to 2,904.02.
Spot gold was down US$1.99 to US$US$1,186.32.
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