KUALA LUMPUR: After weeks of sustained buying on Bursa Malaysia, foreign funds were seen taking some profit on Wednesday but on a small scale while DRB-Hicom hogged the limelight ahead of a decision to pick a foreign strategic partner for loss-making Proton.
At 5pm, the KLCI was down 2.5 points or 0.14% to 1,775.65. Turnover was 3.45 billion shares valued at RM2.88bil. There were 417 gainers, 473 losers and 400 counters unchanged.
Stock market data showed foreign funds were net sellers at -RM51.1mil while local institutions were net buyers at RM28.93mil and local retailers also net buyers at RM22.17mil.
Hong Kong stocks eased on Wednesday but held near 21-month highs aided by steady flows of money from mainland China, where shares tanked under the weight of tighter regulations, Reuters reported.
The ringgit weakened against the major currencies, falling 0.05% against the US dollar to 4.3238 from 4.3215 and slipped 0.42% against the pound sterling to 5.5954 from 5.5717. It lost 0.37% against the Singapore dollar to 3.1000 from 3.0896. It fell 0.48% against the euro to 4.7930 from 4.7703.
Oil prices fell on Wednesday after industry data showed a surprise increase in US crude inventories despite OPEC-led output cuts that Saudi Arabia and Russia want extended.
US crude inventories rose by 882,000 barrels in the week ending May 12 to 523 million barrels, according to the American Petroleum Institute, defying expectations of a drop.
US light crude oil fell 15 cents to US$48.51 and Brent shed seven cents to US$51.58.
Petronas Gas was the top loser, sliding 66 sen to RMRM19.04 and erasing 2.15 points from the KLCI, Petronas Dagangan was flat at RM24.40 while Petronas Chemicals gained six sen to RM7.31. Refiner Hengyuan hit a speed bump, falling 14 sen to RM4.75 while Petron shed seven sen to RM8.60.
DRB-Hicom surged 19 sen to RM1.82 with 41.50 million shares done. DRB-Hicom’s board plans to meet this week to discuss proposals from China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. and France’s PSA Group, according to Bloomberg.
Public Bank pulled back from its recent high, down 12 sen to RM20.04 on profit taking and erasing 0.76 of a point, CIMB and RHB Bank shed two sen each to RM5.95 and RM5.46, Maybank eased one sen to RM9.34. AmBank rose six sen to RM5.50, Hong Leong Bank four sen to RM14.08.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery rose RM23 to RM2,633 per tonne. However, this not help the plantation stocks.
United Malacca fell the most, down 12 sen to RM6.13, PPB Group and IOI Corp four sen lower to RM17.06 and RM4.60, Sime Darby shed one sen to RM9.32 while KL Kepong was flat at RM24.90.
IHH Healthcare staged a mild rebound, climbing eight sen to RM6 and adding 1.08 points to the KLCI. Genting Bhd
edged up two sen to RM9.97 and Genting Malaysia was flat at RM5.76.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.53% to 19,814.88;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index lost 0.17% to 25,293.63;
CSI 300 gave up 0.54% to 3,409.97;
Shanghai’s Composite Index lost 0.27% to 3,1044.44;
Hang Seng China Enterprise was down 0.48% to 10,383.14;
Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.18% to 10,013.67;
South Korea’s Kospi eased 0.1% to 2,293.08 and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index ended 0.11% lower at 3,224.10.
Spot gold rose US$7.07 to US$1,244.31 per troy ounce.
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