Bears on the prowl on Bursa Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR: Maxis Corp, Axiata and Petronas Gas pushed the FBM KLCI deeper into the red at the close of trade on Tuesday as funds took profit as investors turned cautious after the recent net selling by foreign funds.
The FBM KLCI closed down 8.19 points or 0.46% lower at 1,780.71. Turnover was 1.81 billion shares valued at RM2.18bil. Decliners beat advancers five to three or 493 losers to 303 gainers while 449 counters were unchanged.
Hong Kong stocks fell as excitement over the city's plans for a new listing board for "new economy" companies waned, and investors shifted their attention to economic fundamentals, Reuters reported.
The ringgit fell 0.16% against the US dollar to 4.2840 but climbed against the pound sterling, up 0.04% to 3.0903; jumped 0.7% to the pound sterling to 5.4391 and eked out a gain of 0.17% against the euro to 4.7808.
Maxis fell 26 sen to RM5.62 and erased a hefty 3.2 point from the KLCI as investors sold the stock after it announced it had completed its share placement to raise RM1.656bil.
Axiata was five sen lower at RM5.02 and wiped out 0.73 of a point, Digi and Telekom shed one sen each to RM4.99 and RM6.61.
Among the banks and finance stocks, HLFG lost 36 sen to RM17.14, CIMB three sen lower at RM6.64, Public Bank two sen lower at RM20.38 while AmBank was flat at RM5.07 but Maybank and RHB Bank inched up one sen each to RM9.64 and RM5.08.
MBSB rose five sen to RM1.37 as investors were receptive to its plan to merge with Asian Finance Bank.
Meanwhile, oil prices steadied just above seven-month lows fter news of increases in supply, a trend which has undermined attempts by Opec and other producers to support the market through reduced output, Reuters reported.
US light crude rose 10 sen to RM44.30 and Brent added 16 cents to US$47.07.
However, Petronas Gas lost 22 sen to RM18.66 and erased 0.71 of a point, Sapura Energy
18 sen lower at RM1.67, Petronas Dagangan six sen lower at RM24.22 and Petronas Chemicals five sen down to RM7.15.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery fell RM27 to RM2,461 per tonne. United Plantations fell 50 sen to RM28.20, IOI Corp and KL Kepong were flat at RM4.50 and RM24.90 while Sime Darby inched up one sen to RM9.61 and PPB Group gained eight sen to RM16.98.
Power giant Tenaga fel six sen to RM14.32, Genting Bhd 11 sen lower at RM9.64 and Genting Malaysia seven sen down at RM5.59.
Sentiment in semicon and tech stocks perked up, with Vitrox up 28 sen to RM7.43 and JHM gained 24 sen to RM2.71.
A positive outlook from a research house saw Panasonic climbing 20 sen to RM35.42. SAM Engineering added 17 sen to RM7.90.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.81% to 20,230.41;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.31% to 25,843.04;
CSI 300 shed 0.2% to 3,546.49;
Shanghai’s Composite Index she d0.14% to 3,140.01;
Hang Seng China Enterprise lost 0.5% to 10,468.48;
Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.72% to 10,324.46;
South Korea’s Kospi shed 0,07% to 2,369.23 and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index lost 0.52% to 3,230.42.
Spot gold rose US$2.80 to US$1,246.65.
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