KUALA LUMPUR: Key Asian markets were in a sea of red, with Bursa Malaysia following suit in the morning session on Tuesday, with the FBM KLCI weighed down by Nestle and Genting Bhd
, on rising worries about the fallout from the US trade wars.
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was down 1.82 points or 0.1% to 1,846.12. Turnover was 977.63 million shares valued at RM733.48mil. Decliners beat advancers more than three to one or 617 losers to 186 gainers and 312 counters unchanged.
The ringgit fared better against the US dollar, up 0.04% to 3.9155.
Philippine and Indonesian shares fell sharply on Tuesday, leading the losses across Southeast Asia, as overnight declines on Wall Street hurt risk appetite, in the run up to US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's first policy meeting, Reuters reported.
Stocks in China and Hong Kong also fell, tracking losses on Wall Street, where concerns over increased regulation of large technology companies led to shares of Facebook plunging overnight.
Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.6%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 0.54%, Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.26%, Taiwan's Composite Index shed 0.44% while Singapore's STI was down 0.13%.
At Bursa, Nestle fell the most, down RM1.80 to RM127.80 and erased 0.69 of a point, BAT lost 44 sen to RM27.56 while Dutch Lady was down 26 sen to RM66.94 but F&N rose eight sen to RM31.10 and Heineken added six sen to RM20.78.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery rose RM7 to RM2,432 per tonne. KL Kepong and PPB Group added two sen each to RM25.38 and RM18.56, IOI Corp lost two sen to RM4.59.
Sime Plantations rose one sen to RM5.51 but Sime Darby lost five sen to RM2.61 and Sime Property one sen lower to RM1.45.
However, Genting Bhd lost eight sen to RM8.91 and erased 0.5 of a point while Genting Malaysia fell five sen to RM5.20.
Among the banks, Public Bank rose four sen to RM23.16, Maybank two sen to RM10.34 but CIMB shed one sen to RM7.25 and Hong Leong Bank eight sen lower at RM18.72.
US light crude oil rose 20 sen to US$62.26 and Brent added 21 cents to US$66.26.
Petronas Dagnagan and Petronas Chemicals rose four sen each to RM8.19 and RM24.84 while Petronas Gas added two sen to RM17.88.
Poh Huat skidded 22 sen to RM1.30 on weaker earnings while Pos Malaysia lost 20 sen to RM3.70 – again on worries about its couries business.
Lafarge rose 15 sen to RM4.65 after securing a contract to supply cement for the East Coast Rail Link. Maybank Investment Bank Research is retaining its Hold call for Lafarge Malaysia with a target price of RM5.10, which is 13% over the last traded price of RM4.50.
UMW added eight sen to RM6.30. UMW is upbeat on the proposed acquisitions of MBM Resources and Perodua, as this would immediately raise the group’s earnings, says CIMB Equities Research.
As for telcos, Axiata added seven sen to RM5.42, and propped up the KLCI 1.04 points, Digi gained three sen to RM4.63, Maxis was flat at RM5.76 but Telekom fell seven sen to RM5.51.
Tenaga also gave the KLCI a mild boost, up six sen to RM15.76 and nudged the index up 0.55 point.
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