KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips struggled early Thursday, in line with the key Asian markets, in the absence of strong leads from funds to drive the market though most of the recent corporate results were above expectations.
At 9.21am, the FBM KLCI was down 1.54 points or 0.09% to 1,706.54. Turnover was 370.62 million shares valued at RM195.29mil. There were 177 gainers, 208 losers and 267 counters unchanged.
Asian stocks pulled back from a 19-month high on Thursday, while the dollar tried to steady from losses suffered in the wake of the US Federal Reserve minutes indicating a cautious approach to more interest rate increases, Reuters reported.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was fractionally lower. Japan's Nikkei slid 0.1%, while Australian shares retreated 0.3%.
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up almost 0.2%, its ninth straight record-close.
Hong Leong Investment Bank (HLIB) Research said Bursa Malaysia could be due for slight pullback as the FBM KLCI has rallied from the 1,620 level two months back.
“Also, both the stochastics and RSI indicators are suggesting an overbought position on the key index,” it said.
HLIB Research said as the Brent crude oil flirted with the US$57 level two days ago, it anticipates that a solid breakout above US$58 would see further interest in oil and gas counters over the near term.
Meanwhile, Kenanga Investment Bank said earnings by Telekom Malaysia, Genting Plantation, CBIP, Lafarge, Old Town, Genting’s Singapore unit were above its expectations.
CCB fell the most, down 22 sen to RM2.88 while Aeon was down 11 sen to RM2.33, UMS-Neiken 10 sen down to RM1.22 and Lii Hen nine sen lower at RM3.43.
Pharmaniaga
fell seven sen to RM4.98 affter posting losses in the fourth quarter, Complete Logistic and Yinson were down six sen each to RM1.18 and RM3.05.
Petron Malaysia’s strong earnings saw its share price jump 80 sen to RM5.43 and its call warrants CB added 11 sen to 22 sen. Shell Refining was up 11 sen to RM3.10.
KL Kepong rose 42 sen to RM24.62, Pelangi Publishing Group 16.5 sen to 73.5 sen, Econpile 16 sen to RM2.17 and Old Town 15 sen to RM2.18.
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