PetGas, IHH healthcare, Maxis weigh on KLCI

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI closed in the red on Tuesday, dragged down by losses in Petronas Gas, IHH Healthcare and Maxis Bhd Group amid a weak broader market.

At 5pm, the 30-stock index was down 7.78 points, or 0.44%  lower to 1,767.17. The market traded within a range of 9.91 points between an intra-day high of 1,777.08 and a low of 1,767.17 during the session.

Turnover on the stock exchange was 2.91 billion shares valued at RM2.8bil. Losers outpaced gainers by 637 to 292, while 366 counters were unchanged.

Petronas Gas was one the laggards among the KLCI component stocks as its fell of 62 sen to RM9.18 dragging the 30-stock index down by 2.0123 points. IHH Healthcare shed 11 sen to RM5.86, nudging the index down by 1.4860. Maxis lost 10 sen to RM6.42 pushing the index lower by 1.2319.

Among the top gainers at Bursa Malaysia, Vitrox added 32 sen to RM6.72, Selangor Properties gained 32 sen to RM5.19 and Batu Kawan rose 24 sen to RM18.64. 

The decliners included Fraser & Neave, British American Tobacco and Dutch Lady Milk Industries.

Iskandar Waterfront City Bhd’s (IWC) share price gained 14 sen, or 8.38% to RM1.81. The stock was the second most heavily traded counter with more than 81.1 million shares traded. It touched a high of RM1.93 during intra-day trading.

Meanwhile, Bernama reported that ringgit closed higher against the US dollar today due to the positive spillover of the robust economic growth recorded in the first quarter of this year against a backdrop of an alarming external geo-political environment, said dealers.

At 6 pm, the local unit was quoted at 4.2920/2950 against the greenback from Monday’’s close of 4.3030/3060.

Elsewhere in the region, Asian shares closed mixed with Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.33%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.19%, Korea’s Kospi rose 0.33% and the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong added 0.05%.