KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips fell early Monday on sustained foreign fund selling, continuing from 15 straight days, with Petronas Dagangan, IHH and Sime Darby among the top losers.
At 9.50am, the FBM KLCI was down 6.68 points or 0.37% to 1,790.72 but off the early low of 1,783.
Turnover was 480.08 million shares valued at RM279.74mil. There were 216 gainers, 297 losers and 242 counters unchanged.
MIDF Equities Research said based on preliminary data from Bursa Malaysia which excluded off market deals, the net amount sold by foreign investors last week amounted to -RM892.4mil net, almost one third of the amount dumped in the preceding week.
“Last week’s foreign withdrawal has wiped out the cumulative inflows which stood at RM40.2mil in the week before. The year-to-date outflow from Malaysia is -RM852.2mil net, which is still the lowest among the Asean peers that we track,” it said.
On the external front, US stock futures rose on Monday on signs that the United States and North Korea are still working towards holding a summit next month, while oil prices extended losses on expectations of more supply from major producers, Reuters reported.
US S&P500 mini futures rose 0.3% in early Asian trade, but market holidays in the world's two biggest financial centres -- London and New York -- could make trading slow and illiquid for the day.
Japan's Nikkei gained 0.3% in early trade, while South Korea's Kospi rose 0.5%, buoyed by stocks which are seen as benefiting from a further thawing in tensions with Pyongyang.
At Bursa Malaysia, Nestle fell 80 sen to RM146.20 with 100 shares done, Petronas Dagangan lost 34 sen to RM24.88, IHH 17 sen to RM6.09 and Sime Darby 16 sen lower at RM2.60.
Dialog fell 11 sen to RM3.39, Perak Corp 10.5 sen to 51 sen while Bursa and Tenaga lost 10 sen each to RM7.74 and RM14.94.
F&N was the top gainer, up 46 sen to RM37.36, BAT 26 sen higher at RM31.88, Ideal gained 15.5 sen to 80.5 sen, SAM 15 sen to RM7.50 while CMSB added 13 sen to RM2.29.
Sapura Energy
fell four sen to 65.5 sen with 45.9 million shares done but MyEG gained five sen to 81.5 sen.
Win a prize this Mother's Day by subscribing to our annual plan now! T&C applies.
