KUALA LUMPUR: Profit taking on IHH Healthcare and Digi dragged the FBM KLCI into the red at Tuesday's close despite fund support for Petronas linked stocks.
At 5pm, the KLCI was down 0.5 of a point or 0.03% to 1,778.15. Turnover was 3.52 billion shares valued at RM3.84bil. There 412 gainers, 497 losers and 408 counters unchanged.
Iskandar Waterfront City (IW City) saw heavy volatile trade sparked by news flow about its parent, Iskandar Waterfront Holdings Sdn Bhd's (IWH) role in the Bandar Malaysia project.
The ringgit rose against several key currencies except the euro. It gained 0.17% against the US dollar to 4.3215 from 4.3288 and rose 0.49% against the pound sterling to 5.5717 from 5.5993. It edged up 0.07% against the Singapore dollar to 3.0896 from 3.0917 but it lost 0.62% against the euro to 4.7703 from 4.7407.
Hong Kong stocks turned lower on Tuesday after touching 21-month intraday highs, breaking a six-session winning streak, as investors took profit despite overnight strength on Wall Street, Reuters reported.
Oil prices extended gains on Tuesday after top producers Saudi Arabia, Russia and Kuwait supported prolonging supply cuts until the end of March 2018 in a bid to drain a global glut, Reuters added. US light crude and Brent rose 35 cents each to US$49.20 and US$52.17 a barrel.
Petronas Gas was the top performer after it was upgraded, surging RM1.12 to RM19.70 and boosting the KLCI 3.76 points, Petronas Dagangan added 34 sen to RM24.40 but Petronas Chemicals shed two sen to RM7.25.
IHH Healthcare fell 30 sen to RM5.92 with 16.77 million shares done, wiping out 3.49 points from the KLCI as it gave up most of the recent gains to slump to the lowest since mid-March.
Tenaga lost six sen to RM13.94, Genting Malaysia four sen to RM5.76 and Genting Bhd
eased one sen to RM9.95.
Digi fell 10 sen to RM5.01 and erased 1.32 points from the index, Telekom lost three sen to RM6.45, Maxis shed two sen to RM6.55 but Axiata rose one sen to RM5.36.
BAT was the top loser, down RM1.04 to RM44.90, Dutch Lady lost 60 sen to RM58.30 but F&N added 22 sen to RM25.30 while Nestle and Ajinomoto rose 20 sen each to RM82.10 and RM20.08.
Among the banks, Maybank and Ambank fell three sen each to RM9.35 and RM5.44, RHB Bank and Hong Leong Bank were flat at RM5.48 and RM14.04 while CIMB gained three sen to RM5.97. Public Bank rallied 18 sen to RM20.16 and pushed the KLCI up 1.18 points.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery fell RM13 to RM2,596 per tonne. United Plantations and Batu Kawan fell 18 sen each to RM28 and RM18.58.
Sime Darby, KL Kepong and IOI Corp were flat at RM9.33, RM24.90 and RM4.64 respectively. Also unchanged was PPB Group at RM17.10.
IW City saw heavy and volatile trading, swinging from a high of RM2.45 to a low of RM1.70 before ending the day down 15 sen to RM1.98 drawing a query from Bursa Securities.
A related company, Ekovest fell seven sen to RM1.27 with 53.6 million shares done. It was traded from a high of RM1.37 to a low of RM1.25. It ended down seven sen to RM1.27. Its call warrants lost two sen to 10 sen with 46 million units done.
However, shares of Malton and its warrants, WB jumped 24 sen each to RM1.78 and 93 sen on speculation about its possible entry into the Bandar Malaysia project.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.25% to 19,919.82;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index lost 0.14% to 25,335,94;
CSI 300 rose 0.87% to 3,428.65;
Shanghai’s Composite Index added 0.74% to 3,112.96;
Hang Seng China Enterprise lost 0.16% to 10,433.69;
Taiwan’s Taiex lost 0.16% to 10,433.69;
South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.2% to 2,295.33 and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 1.12% to 3,227.71.
Spot gold rose US$3.77 to US$1,234.59 per troy ounce.
Win a prize this Mother's Day by subscribing to our annual plan now! T&C applies.
