Another late selling pushes KLCI into negative zone

For the month, the FBM KLCI is down 3.18% and year-to-date, it is down 8.02%.

KUALA LUMPUR: Late selling of telcos and banks in the last 10 minutes of trade pushed the FBM KLCI further into the red on Wednesday while key Asian markets closed mixed.

At 5pm, the FBM KLCI was down 4.93 points or 0.3% to 1,629.59. Turnover was 1.16 billion shares valued at RM1.56bil. There were 353 gainers, 369 losers and 345 counters unchanged.

The firmer crude oil prices could not provide the respite to the market which had undergone attrition since the US presidential elections on Nov 8. The weakness of the ringgit had also weigh on investor sentiment.

US light crude oil and Brent rose 36 cents each to US$53.66 and US$55.71. Petronas said it would cut its daily output by 20,000 barrels of crude oil a day from January in line with the OPEC and non-OPEC agreement to shore up prices and reduce the glut.

The ringgit eked out slight gains against the US dollar to 4.4792 from the previous close of 4.4797 and it advanced against the pound sterling to 5.5251 from 5.5419. It rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.1008 from 3.0958 but weakened against the Euro to 4.6593 from 4.6512.

Petronas Dagangan fell 22 sen to RM23.52, Petronas Gas was flat at RM21.28 while Petronas Chemicals rose four sen to RM6.92. 

SapuraKencana, which has been excluded from the 30 KLCI stocks and replaced by IJM, rose seven sen to RM1.68 in active trade.

Axiata fell six sen to RM4.52 and erased 0.88 of a point from the KLCI, Maxis lost four sen to RM5.96, Telekom three sen lower at RM5.95 while Digi shed one sen to RM4.98.

Crude palm oil for third month delivery rose RM18 to RM3,111 per tonne but this positive sentiment failed to spill over the plantation stocks.

Heavyweight Sime Darby fell seven sen to RM8.06 and wiped out 0.77 of a point as. KL Kepong lost 14 sen to RM23.66, IOI Corp shed one sen to RM4.38 and PPB Group was flat at RM15.80.

CIMB lost six sen to RM4.54, Maybank fell four sen to RM7.87, Hong Leong shed lost two sen to RM13.24 but Public Bank rose two sen to RM19.74. Public Bank rose two sen to RM19.74.

Tenaga Nasional added four sen to RM13.76 and Genting Bhd advanced 11 sen to RM7.92 but Genting Malaysia fell five sen to RM4.60.

Consumer stocks were mostly lower with BAT down 74 sen to RM43.18, Dutch Lady lost 28 sen to RM55.56 and Heineken lost eight sen to RM17.

Nestle was the top gainer, adding 30 sen to RM78.60.

Export-driven glove maker Kossan climbed 10 sen to RM6.45 as it benefits from a weaker ringgit. Construction company Mudajaya rose seven sen to 93.5 sen after securing a contract. Globetronics rose eight sen to RM3.58.

Among the key regional markets,

Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.26% to 19,444.49;

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.37% to 21,809.80;

CSI 300 climbed 0.89% to 3,338.54;

Shanghai’s Composite Index jumpoed 1.11% to 3,137.43;

Hang Seng China Enterprise added 0.52% to 9,331.63;

Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.41% to 9,204.26;

South Korea’s Kospi she d0.19% to 2,037.96 and 

Singapore’s Straits Times Index was down 0.33% to 2,901.70.

Spot gold rose US$2.43 to US$1,134.78 per ounce.