For the month, the FBM KLCI is down 3.18% and year-to-date, it is down 8.02%.
KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips closed lower on Monday, weighed down by losses in MISC, Genting Malaysia and Maybank as funds stepped up profit taking, tracking the mixed key Asian markets.
At 5pm, the KLCI was down 4.6 points or 0.26% to 1,771.62, extending its decline from last week as foreign funds take profit.
Turnover was 1.68 billion shares valued at RM1.77bil. The broader market was cautious with 366 gainers, 418 losers and 417 counters unchanged.
MSCI's benchmark emerging stocks index gained 0.2%, with the biggest gains in Asian markets. Hong Kong shares gained 0.4% and mainland Chinese stocks rose 0.6% after Shanghai posted its strongest weekly gain in four months last week, the wire reported.
Despite the cautious market sentiment, the ringgit firmed up against the key currencies. It edged up 0.07% to the US dollar at 4.2870 and rose 0.32% to the pound sterling at 5.5183 and added 0.06% to the Singapore dollar at 3.1436. It climbed 0.12% against the euro to 5.0322.
Oil prices fell on Monday as a rally at the end of last week prompted investors to close positions at a higher price, against a backdrop of signs the global market is starting to rebalance, Reuters reported. US light crude fell nine cents to US$48.42 and Brent lost 24 cents to US$52.48.
LNG carrier MISC fell nine sen to RM7.16 and erased 1.21 points from the KLCI while Genting Malaysia was down 11 sen to RM6.03, Tenaga was two sen lower at RM14.22 while Genting Bhd
shed one sen to RM9.73.
Petron fell 11 sen to RM9.29. However, Hengyuan rose 27 sen to RM8.59.
Enra lost 14 sen to RM2.81, Petronas Dagangan and Petronas Gas were flat at RM24 and RM18.80 while Petronas Chemicals rose two sen to RM7.20.
Among the banks, Maybank fell six sen to RM9.60, RHB Bank seven sen lower at RM4.88, CIMB dipped two sen to RM6.75 while AmBank and Public Bank were flat at RM4.70 and RM20.58 while Hong Leong Bank rose four sen to RM15.58. MBSB added two sen to RM1.29.
Tech-related stocks led the losers list, with KESM down 42 sen to RM14.62, SAM Engineering 26 sen lower to RM7.24, mTouche fell 4.5 sen to 23 sen but Dnex added three sen to 50 sen.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery rose RM14 to RM2,695 per tonne. PPB Group rose 26 sen to RM16.66 up 0.52 of a point, KL Kepong was flat at RM24.30, Sime Darby lost two sen to RM9.26, IOI Corp lost six sen to RM4.50 while Far East fell 20 sen to RM8.90.
SIG Gases recovered from the earlier selling pressure due to profit taking after the weaker results. It rose one sen to RM1.11.
As for consumer stocks, Nestle rose 38 sen to RM84.58 and Heineken added 14 sen to RM18.24.
Among the telcos, Maxis added two sen to RM5.78. Axiata one sen higher at RM4.85, Telekom and Digi were flat at RM6.35 and RM4.84.
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