KUALA LUMPUR: Mild profit taking of Genting Bhd
, Digi and Petronas Gas pushed the FBM KLCI slightly into the red at the midday break on Tuesday while heavy trading volume was seen in IW City for a second day.
At 12.30pm, the KLCI was down 2.03 points or 0.11% to 1,766.12. Turnover was 1.72 billion shares valued at RM1.23bil. There were 336 gainers, 464 losers and 386 counters unchanged.
Asian stock markets were mixed on Tuesday following a flat close on Wall Street, as investors searched for the next catalyst following France's presidential election, while oil inched higher on expectations Opec supply cuts will be extended, Reuters reported
The ringgit weakened aganst the US dollar but firmed up against the other currencies. It slipped to 4.3405 against the greenback from the previous close of 4.3358.
However, it edged up against the pound sterling to 5.6226 from 5.6252; gained against the Singapore dollar to 3.0853 from 3.0871 and eked out some gains against the euro to 4.7446 from 4.7501.
Bloomberg reported foreign holdings of Malaysian debt rose to RM185bil in April as it snapped a five-month outflow.
Among the other KLCI stocks, Genting Bhd lost 10 sen to RM9.70 and erased 0.61 of a point from the KLCI while Genting Malaysia was flat at RM5.76. MAHB was down 10 sen to RM8.06 while Tenaga shed two sen to RM13.90.
Digi lost three sen to RM5.04 and erased 0.38 of a point from the index, Axiata rose two sen to RM5.24, Maxis added one sen to RM6.55 and Telekom two sen higher at RM6.50.
US light crude oil and Brent gained four cents each to US$46.47 and US$49.38, respectively. Petronas Gas fell 10 sen to RM18.48, Petronas Dagangan four sen lower at RM23.96 and Petronas Chemicals one sen lower at RM7.14.
Also in play were Petron Malaysia and Hengyuan (formerly Shell Refining). Petron added 42 sen to RM7.92 and Hengyuan 16 sen higher at RM3.99.
IW City ended the morning down, extending the plunge from Monday when it hit limit down. It lost 50 sen to RM1.66 with 195 million shares done.
Among the banks, AmBank fell four sen to RM5.51, Public Bank was down two sen to RM19.98, Maybank shed one sen to RM9.38, also down one sen was RHB Bank to RM5.46, CIMB rose two sen to RM5.85, Hong Leong Bank was flat at RM13.84.
Time dotCom gave up most of the previous day's gains as the market viewed the previous day's price surge as unsustainable.
Among consumer stocks, BAT fell 34 sen to RM45.06, Dutch Lady was down 18 sen to RM58.82 but Nestle added 78 sen to RM83.08 and F&N rebounded 30 sen to RM24.80.
Glove makers attracted attention as Hartalega added 30 sen to RM5.44 and Kossan 22 sen higher at RM6.22.
Semiconductors continued to attract strong interest, with Globetronics up 14 sen to RM5.60.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery rose RM11 to RM2,609 per tonne. PPB Group fell eight sen to RM17.10, IOI Corp lost two sen to RM4.58, Sime Darby was flat at RM9.32, KL Kepong added two sen to RM24.76,
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.12% to 19,872.08;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.35% to 24,664.03;
CSI 300 lost 0.27% to 3,349.82;
Shanghai’s Composite Index shed 0.03% to 3,077.67;
Hang Seng China Enterprise gained 0.43% to 10,025;
Taiwan’s Taiex shed 0.22% to 9,915.51; and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained 0.21% to 3,243.90.
Spot gold rose US$1.84 to US$1,228.07.
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