KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips eked out slight gains early Tuesday, underpinned by HLFG and Hong Leong Bank, while Top Glove staged a mild rebound after the heavy selling on reports of alleged mistreatment of its migrant workers.
At 9.40am, the KLCI was up 1.47 points or 0.09% to 1,664.78. Turnover was 278.61 million shares valued at RM142.08mil. There were 179 gainers, 173 losers and 197 counters unchanged.
However, whether the market can hold on to its gains remains to be seen due to the unresolved US-China trade conflict, weaker crude oil prices and disappointing corporate results.
Kenanga Research said the overall technical outlook is outright bearish at this juncture as the index had breached below prior support level of 1,670, while momentum indicators continue displaying weaknesses.
“From here support levels to watch out for are 1,650 (S1), where a break below could trigger further sell-down towards the 1,615 (S2). Meanwhile, key levels of resistance are identified at 1,700 (R1) and 1,750 (R2),” it said.
HLFG rose 22 sen to RM18.94 and Hong Leong Bank 10 sen to RM20.40.
Top Glove rose 11 sen to RM5.66 after its chairman Tan Sri Dr Lim Wee Chai was quoted by a local news website as saying that it was “business as usual” for the firm and for supply with the UK’s National Health Service (NHS).
“There are no issues with the NHS. It has been sending teams to audit us every year, and will continue do so,” the report said.
Consumer stocks recovered slightly, with Nestle up 40 sen to RM145.30 and Carlsberg 14 sen to RM19.40 but Heineken lost 28 sen to RM19.92 and Apollo 13 sen to RM3.75.
Kian Joo rose 12 sen to RM2.14, Sam Engineering nine sen to RM7.53 but Toong Herr fell seven sen to RM3.72.
Prestariang fell two sen to 28.5 sen with 24.5 million shares done. CIMB Equities Research has downgraded Prestariang from Add to Reduce and also cut the target price from RM1.77 to only 26 sen after the Home Ministry confirmed the scrapping of the RM3.5bil National Immigration Control System (SKIN) project.
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