KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI was down more than three points at midday on Friday in tandem with the weaker regional markets as Greece and its international creditors remain in deadlock over its debt crisis.
At 12.30pm, the KLCI fell 3.36 points to 1,713.45. Turnover was 702.3 million shares valued at RM554.15mil. There were 266 gainers, 362 decliners and 305 counters unchanged.
Reuters reported that Asian equities fell on Friday as Greece failed again to reach an agreement with its creditors and stumbled towards a default, while major currencies like the euro and dollar drifted in narrow range as the debt saga sidelined investors.
Japan's Nikkei dipped 0.5%. Despite household spending rising more than expected, inflation has remained flat, keeping alive expectations for more central bank stimulus later this year.
Meanwhile Hong Leong Investment Research noted that that despite recent technical rebound, KLCI’s failure in reclaiming above the downtrend line from year-to-date high of 1,867.5 on 27 Apr is damaging and could potentially point to more weaknesses in the short term, especially approaching the upcoming Fitch review by end June.
It said a breakdown below 1,700 will witness KLCI into freefall territory, with no strong support until 1,671. A swift recapture of 1,725 is vital for the local bourse to break its downtrend trajectory.
At Bursa Malaysia, PBBank fell 14 sen to RM18.74, Maybank six sen to RM9.26, CIMB four sen to RM5.53, Hong Leong Bank four sen to RM13.46 and RHB Capital rose one sen to RM7.23.
Axiata fell one sen to RM6.47, Maxis unchanged at 6.44 and Telekom rose eight sen to RM6.68 while DiGi fell five sen to RM5.40.
IOI Corp rose two sen to RM3.99, KL Kepong two sen to RM21.44, PPB Group six sen to RM15.14 and Sime Darby one sen to RM8.50
PetChem fell seven sen to RM6.22, PetDag rose four sen to RM20.58, PetGas unchanged at RM21.50 and SapuraKencana rose one sen to RM2.42.
Tenaga rose 10 sen to RM12.66.
Westports fell seven sen to RM4.29
Amway fell 14 sen to RM10.66 and F&N 14 sen to RM17.80.
Pharma rose 16 sen to RM7.06 and Suiwah 15 sen to RM3.16.
US light crude oil fell 2 cents to US$59.68
Brent rose 22 cents to US$63.42
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery rose RM13 to RM2,277
The ringgit weakened against the dollar at 3.7642 against 3.7575 the previous close.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.05% to 20,781.12
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.49% to 26,740.96
Shanghai’s Composite Index fell 4.06% to 4,344.05
Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.18% to 9,458.91
South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.38% to 2,092.93
Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.44% to 3,335.17
Spot gold rose US$1,28 to US$1,174.45
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