KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia put up a weak performance in the morning session on Thursday as the FBM KLCI was weighed down by losses in Axiata and Digi, trailing behind the most of the key Asian markets again.
At 12.30pm, the KLCI was down 1.78 points or 0.1% to 1,755.46. Turnover was 866.07 million shares valued at RM826.96mil. Advancers led decliners 342 to 231 while 475 counters were unchanged.
Southeast Asian stock markets, except Malaysia rose on Thursday, in line with broader Asia, as investors were relieved that US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen indicated a more gradual tightening of monetary policy, Reuters reported.
The ringgit rose against the US dollar and euro but slipped against the pound sterling and Singapore dollar.
It rose 0.1% to the greenback at 4.2892 and advanced 0.34% to the euro. However, it fell 0.21% to the pound and 0.2% to the Singapore unit at 3.1152.
Axiata fell 22 sen to RM4.65, giving up most of the previous day's gains and erasing 3.25 points from the KLCI. Digi's lacklustre Q2 earnings saw it falling 10 sen to RM4.80 and wiping out 1.28 points.
Maxis rose one sen to RM5.52 and Telekom two sen higher at RM6.49.
Lotte Titan Chemical fell seven sen to RM6.41. Its revised IPO price when it listed on Tuesday was RM6.50.
US light crude oil eked out a gain of one cent to US$45.50 and Brent added just two cents to US$47.76. Refiner Petron rose 15 sen to RM7.87.
Petronas Dagangan added eight sen to RM23.68 and Petronas Chemicals three sen to RM7.39 but Petronas Gas shed two sen to RM18.78.
UMW Oil and Gas lost three sen to 30.5 sen in active trade but UMW added 14 sen to RM5.69.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery fell RM18 to RM2,564 per tonne. KL Kepong fell 10 sen to RM24.66, PPB Group four sen lower at RM16.76 and Sime Darby flat at RM9.54 but IOI Corp edged up one sen to RM4.50.
Hap Seng fell 15 sen to RM9.11 but Genting Bhd
rose 17 sen to RM9.29 and Genting Malaysia three sen higher at RM5.70 while Tenaga was flat at RM14.16.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 shed 0.06% to 20,085.45;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 1.07% to 26,323.33;
CSI 300 added 0.47% to 3,676.07;
Shanghai’s Composite Index rose 0.44% to 3,211.51;
Hang Seng China Enterprise jumped 1.53% to 10,678.43;
Taiwan’s Taiex added 0.52% to 10,475.35;
South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.21% to 2,420.80; and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained 0.59% to 3,227.95.
Spot gold rose US$2.61 to US$1,223.11.
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