KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended Friday on a weaker note as investors took some money off the table after four days of gains with Top Glove and Maxis dragging the FBM KLCI into the red.
At 5pm, the KLCI was down 9.26 points or 0.54% to 1,721.42. Turnover declined to 2.67 billion shares valued at RM2.33bil. Decliners beat advancers two to one or 611 losers to 290 gainers and 371 counters unchanged.
China and Hong Kong stocks closed higher amid hopes of a China-US trade deal before the March 1 deadline, after which the US plans to hike tariffs on Chinese goods, Reuters reported.
The blue-chip CSI300 index rose 2.3% while the Shanghai Composite Index ended up 1.9%. The Hang Seng index ended up 0.7% while the China Enterprises Index gained 1.1%.
At Bursa, Maxis extended its losses after the announcement of weaker earnings in FY18. It fell 16 sen to RM5.51 and erased 2.18 points from the KLCI. Digi lost three sen to RM4.67.
Axiata fell five sen to RM4.25 and erased 0.8 of a point. Just after market close, the company announced that it had posted net losses of RM1.66bil in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2018 and its biggest losses ever of RM5.03bil in FY18 due to depreciation, impairments, higher operating costs.
The world's largest glove maker, Top Glove lost 27 sen to RM4.83 and wiped out 1.2 points whiule Hartalega
was 13 sen lower to RM5.25.
US light crude oil rose 18 cents to US$57.14 and Brent 19 cents higher at US$67.26. Petronas Dagangan lost 38 sen to RM26.80, Dialoh seven sen to RM3.25, Petronas Chemical two sen to RM9.03 while Petronas Gas unchanged at RM18.20.
Genting Bhd fell nine sen to RM7.51, Tenaga six sen lower at RM13.44 and GentingM five sen to RM3.50 but MAHB gained five sen to RM8.20.
Among the banks, Maybank edged up one sen to RM9.54, AmBank three sen higher at RM4.58 while RHB Bak added two sen to RM5.59 and CIMB unchanged at RM5.84 while Public Bank shed two sen to RM24.98 and Hong Leong Bank 16 sen lower at RM21.22.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery fell RM8 to RM2,256 per tonne. PPB Group was down eight sen to RM18.80, Sime Plantation three sen to RM5.24, IOI Corp shed a sen to RM4.57 and KL Kepong unchanged at RM25.
The US dollar fell 0.02% against the US dollar to 4.0780 and weakened by 0.03% to the Singapore unit to 3.0150. However, it rose 0.36% against the pound sterling to 5.3144 and edged up 0.05% to the euro to 4.6268.
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