KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips continued to consolidate at midday on Friday, weighed by losses in Digi and Genting Bhd
and in the absence of strong leads, while the ringgit was mixed against the key currencies.
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was down 2.06 points or 0.12% to 1,753.57. Turnover was 823.17 million shares valued at RM555.54mil. There were 260 gainers, 321 losers and 415 stocks unchanged.
The ringgit rose against the US dollar, up 0.05% to 4,2890 and gained 0.33% versus the pound sterling at 5.5611. It slipped 0.32% against the Singapore dollar to 3.1415 and tumbled 1.02% to the euro at 4.9876.
China's stocks slipped on Friday morning, but were set to end the week higher, led by strong gains in blue chips, as investors sought firms with solid growth prospects and lower valuations amid tighter financial regulations and liquidity conditions, Reuters reported.
The CSI300 index fell 0.3%, to 3,736.13 at the end of the morning session, retreating from an 18-month high, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.2 % to 3,238.15.
At Bursa, consumer stocks were on top of the losers and gainers lists at midday. Nestle fell 24 sen to RM83.66, Ajinomoto and Dutch Lady lost 10 sen each to RM25.10 and RM58.80 but BAT rose 38 sen to RM44.26 and F&N gained 18 sen to RM25.28.
BIMB fell the most among the banks, down 12 sen to RM4.36 on worries about its exposure to the troubled oil and gas companies though analysts said the exposure was very small.
Maybank added one sen to RM9.63, AmBank rose two sen to RM5.02, CIMB gained three sen to RM6.34, Hong Leong Bank and RHB Bank shed two sen each to RM15.66 and RM5.03. Also down two sen was Public Bank to RM20.34.
Digi fell four sen to RM4.70 and erased 0.51 of a point from the KLCI. Also down four sen was Telekom to RM6.31, Maxis lost two sen to RM5.51 and Axiata shed one sen to RM4.72.
Genting Bhd fell seven sen to RM9.48 and wiped out 0.44 of a point, Genting Malaysia ros efour sen to RM5.92 while Tenaga added two sen to RM14.10.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery shed RM1 to RM2.575 per tonne.
United Plantations was the top loser, down 52 sen to RM27.14 while PPB Group and Genting Plantations lost 10 sen each to RM16.62 and RM10.70, KL Kepong six sen to RM24.68, Sime Darby four sen to RM9.52 and IOI Corp two sen to RM4.47. TAHPS rose 10 sen to RM7.20.
US light crude oil inched up one cent to US$26.93 and Brent rose three cents to US$49.33. Petronas Gas lost eight sen to RM18.60, Petronas Dagangan added four sen to RM23.68 and Petronas Chemicals edged up one sen to RM6.96.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.22% to 20,100.66;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 0.13% to 26,706.13;
CSI 300 fell 0.31% to 3,736.31;
Shanghai’s Composite Index lost 0.21% to 3,238.15;
Hang Seng China Enterprise fell 0.64% to 10,777.54;
Taiwan’s Taiex was down 0.51% to 10,446.09;
South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.28% to 2,448.79 and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained 0.52% to 3,310.14.
Spot gold rose 18 cents to US$1,244.67.
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