Another late sell-off but Maybank arrests decline

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's blue chips closed lower again on Tuesday on late selling of Genting and Petronas stocks but Maybank and SP Setia advanced in active trade.

At 5pm the KLCI was down 3.88 points or 0.22% to 1,733.61. Turnover was 2.98 billion shares valued at RM2.60bil. Decliners beat advancers nearly two to one or 546 to 276 while 473 counters were unchanged.

The ringgit weakened against major currencies, snapping its recent gains. It slipped 0.05% against the US dollar to 4,1935; weakened 0.47% to the pound sterling at 5.5021 and edged 0.05% lower to the Singapore unit at 3,0792 while it sank 0.64% to the euro at 4.9109.

Japan's Nikkei share average ended little changed on Tuesday in choppy trade, with semiconductor equipment makers attracting buyers while Mizuho Financial Group fell on downbeat earnings. 

Oil prices held largely steady on Tuesday as the prospect of further rises in US output offset some of the optimism that Opec-led production cuts would tighten the balance between crude supply and demand. US light crude fell 15 cents to US$56.61 and Brent lost 13 cents to US$63.03.

Petronas Gas skidded 46 sen to RM16.98, Petronas Chemicals fell five sen to RM7.40 though Petronas Dagnagan edge dup just tow sen to RM23.72.

Refiners Petron fell 44 sen to RM12.26 and Hengyuan 20 sen lower at RM10.40 on profit taking though they were included in the MSCI Small Cap Index on Nov 30.