KUALA LUMPUR: Tenaga Nasional and Genting Bhd
dragged the FBM KLCI into the red at midday on Friday, snapping two days of straight gains, in the absence of strong catalysts to sustain the upward momentum.
At 12.30pm, the KLCI was down 3.32 points or 0.2% to 1,674.44. Turnover was 1.26 billion shares valued at RM801.65mil. There were 271 gainers, 402 losers and 356 counters unchanged.
The ringgit weakened against the firmer US dollar and slipped 0.11% to 4.4637 from 4.4587. However, the ringgit climbed against the pound sterling to 5.4306 from 5.4841 and advanced the Singapore dollar to 3.1260 from 3.1282. It was firmer against the Euro to 4.7376 from 4.7482.
Key regional markets were mixed with Japan, Hong Kong, China and Singapore in the positive zone but South Korea and Tawan fell.
At Bursa, Genting Bhd lost 13 sen to RM8.24 with 1.6 million shares done and erased 0.79 of a point from the KLCI. Genting Malaysia fell four sen to RM4.78 while power giant Tenaga Nasional was down six sen to RM13.94 and wiped out of 0.55 of a point.
As for financial stocks, HLFG fell 14 sen to RM14.94 and insurer LPI shed 10 sen to RM17.10 but AeonCredit added 10 sen to RM15.18. MBSB gained three sen to RM1.04 with 30 million shares done.
Public Bank rose two sen to RM20.08, Maybank added one sen to RM8.32, Hong Leong Bank was flat at RM13.40, RHB Bank shed one sen to RM4.94 and CIMB fell three sen to RM4.83.
Puncak Niaga saw rising interest, adding 5.5 sen to 98.5 sen with 5.2 million shares done.
BAT gave up more that the previous day's gains, sliding RM2.32 to RM46.18 while Carlsberg lost 14 sen to RM14.
Telcos regained their bounce led by Maxis, which added four sen to RM6.16, Axiata up three sen to RM4.72, Digi rose two sen to RM4.90 but Telekom fell four sen to RM6.07.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery rose RM26 to RM3,142 per tonne. United Plantations rose RM26 to RM3,142 per tonne, IOI Corp and Sime Darby eked out one sen each to RM4.49 and RM8.51 while PPB Group and KL Kepong were flat at RM16.30 and RM24.29.
Oil prices edged up on Friday, supported by reports on details of OPEC output cuts, although lingering doubts over producer compliance with supply reduction targets weighed on the market, Reuters reported.
US light crude and Brent added seven sen each to RM53.08 and RM56.08. Petronas Gas fell four sen to RM20.86, Petronas Dagnagan two sen to RM23.78 and Petronas Chemicals one sen to RM7.19.
Spot gold fell US$1.42 to US$1,194.01.
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