KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia got off to a quiet start on Tuesday in thin trade with market closing at midday and ahead of a two-day break for the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations.
At 9.14am, the KLCI was down 0.97 of a point or 0.06% to 1,654.34. Turnover wasn94.15 million shares valued at RM51.61mil. There were 131 gainers, 116 losers and 162 counters unchanged.
Bloomberg reported Asian stocks stabilised in early trading after a technology rout sank Nasdaq shares overnight. Treasuries came off their highs after yields dived on growing conviction the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates.
Equities fluctuated at the open in Japan, Australia and South Korea. Futures on the S&P 500 Index were flat. The Nasdaq 100 Index tumbled more than 2% Monday as the FAANG cohort of tech companies was said to potentially face antitrust probes, though declines for other US equity gauges were more muted.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported oil prices fell amid a global economic slowdown that is starting to hit oil demand, triggering calls in producer club Opec for supply cuts to be extended.
Front-month Brent crude futures fell 40 cents to US$60.88. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures lost 31 cents to US$52.94. Crude oil futures are now around 20% below their 2018 peaks reached in late April.
Petronas Gas fell 20 sen to RM17.89 and Petronas Chemical eight sen to RM8.26 as crude oil prices skidded. Petronas Dagangan gained 30 sen to RM26.
HLFG lost 18 sen to RM18.90, Tenaga 10 sen to RM12.76, AmBank seven sen to RM4.39, Hartalega
six sen to RM5.22, Public Bank and Digi four sen each to RM23.50 and RM4.84.
Can-One jumped 34 sen to RM3.77. The manufacturer of cans received a buyout offer for its unit, F & B Nutrition Sdn Bhd at a price of up to RM1bil.
SAM Engineering gained 17 sen to RM8.07, MISC 11 sen to RM7.06 and PPB Group eight sen to RM18.82. Telekom added two sen to RM3.55.
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