KUALA LUMPUR: Petronas Chemical and IHH Healthcare pushed the FBM KLCI into the red on Tuesday in the absence of any negative news.
At 5pm, the KLCI was down 1.15 points or 0.07% to 1,687.41. Turnover was 2.70 billion shares valued at RM1.96bil. There were 425 gainers, 406 losers and 369 counters unchanged.
North-east Asian markets outperformed their Southeast peers. Hong Kong stocks edged up on Tuesday as consumer shares outperformed amid expectations Beijing would roll out more measures to spur consumption to cushion growth, Reuters reported.
The Hang Seng index rose 0.1% while the China Enterprises Index gained 0.3%. MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.31% while Japan's Nikkei index closed up 2.61%, Reuters reported. Singapore's STI lost 0.16% and Jakarta's Composite lost 1.06%.
US light crude oil rebounded 44 cents to US$52.85 a barrel while Brent advanced 51 cents to US$62.02.
Petronas Chemical fell 13 sen to RM8.41 and erased 1.63 points from the KLCI, Petronas Gas rose two sen to RM18.08 while Petronas Dagangan was flat at RM26.12 and Dialog eked out one sen to RM2.98.
Barakah
rose three sen to 13.5 sen and it was the most active with 117.90 million shares done, Sapura Energy was flat at 29.5 sen and Bumi Armada lost one sen to 22.5 sen.
IHH Healthcare fell 13 sen to RM5.47 and wiped out 1.78 points from the KLCI, Press Metal lost 15 sen to RM4.01, Tenaga six sen to RM13.10 and Genting Bhd three sen to RM7.08. Sime Darby shed a sen to RM2.20.
Among the consumer stocks, Heineken fell 30 sen to RM20.82, BAT 26 sen to RM37.14 while Ajinomoto lost 12 sen to RM18.86. However, F&N jumped RM1.22 to RM34.62 while Dutch Lady added 28 sen to RM62.26.
Public Bank fell 12 sen to RM24.96 and wiped out 0.73 of a point, Maybank shed three sen to RM9.56, Hong Leong Bank added four sen to RM20.88 and CIMB six sen to RM5.82.
Press Metal lost 15 sen to RM4.01 on weaker aluminum prices while IHH Healthcare lost 13 sen to RM5.47 in the absence of any recent negative news.
Eastern & Oriental fell 24 sen to a nine-year low of 85 sen with 36.69 million shares done as investors were cautious about its cash call.
Frontken climbed 3.5 sen to 90.5 sen after its FY18 net profit rose by 75% to RM52.25mil from RM29.85mil in FY17 while its revenue increased by 10.3% to RM327.22mil from RM296.58mil.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery fell RM18 to RM2,248 per tonne.
Among the plantations, Batu Kawan rose 60 sen to RM17.50, United Plantations 30 sen to RM26.30 and KL Kepong gained 30 sen to RM24.70, IOI Corp added nine sen to RM4.62, PPB Group and Sime Darby Plantation two sen each to RM18.18 and RM5.13.
The US dollar held at a two-month high as expectations of progress in the US-China trade talks and a tentative deal to avoid a US government shutdown lifted sentiment.
The ringgit fell 0.09% to the greenback to 4.0765 and lost 0.08% to the Singapore unit at 3.0005. However, the ringgit rose 0.37% against the pound sterling to 5.2391 and added 0.26% versus the euro at 4.5948.
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