KUALA LUMPUR: Some foreign selling of key stocks including DiGi, Public Bank and IOI Corp saw the FBM KLCI closing down nearly 10 points on Tuesday.
The weaker Malaysian equities market mirrored most key Asian and European bourses as crude oil prices fell amid a weakening global economic outlook.
At 5pm, the KLCI was down 9.84 points or 0.58% to 1,696.95. Turnover was 1.89 billion shares valued at RM1.87bil. Decliners beat advancers more than two to one with 588 losers to 269 gainers and 296 counters unchanged.
Foreign funds were net sellers at -RM55.08mil but local instutions were net buyers aat RM28.03mil abd retailers net buyers also at RM27.05mil.
Fitch Ratings cautioned that weak commodity prices will continue to put pressure on Malaysia’s fiscal and broader economic outlook next year. It also said Malaysia's fiscal and broader economic outlook would remain under pressure from weaker commodity prices into 2016.
Reuters reported European stock markets fell on Tuesday, moving further away from last week's two-month high after a drop in the shares of BASF and Novartis weighed on markets.
At Bursa Malaysia, DiGi fell 23 sen to RM18.20 and the losses erased 3.07 points from the KLCI after the weaker earnings. Axiata fell five sen to RM6.27, TM was down one sen to RM6.76 while Maxis was flat at RM6.70.
US light crude oil fell 44 cents to US$43.54 and Brent 26 cents to US$47.28. Petronas Dagangan fell 18 sen to RM23.10, Petronas Gas six sen lower at RM23.22 but Petronas Chemicals added three sen to RM6.41. SK Petro rose two sen to RM2.14.
Public Bank came under late selling pressure, ending the day down 20 sen to RM18.40 and erasing 1.33 points from the KLCI. Hong Leong Bank lost 14 sen to RM14, CIMB three sen to RM4.87 and Maybank shed two sen to RM8.55.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery rose RM35 to RM2,314 per tonne but this was not enough to lure investors to put more money into plantation stocks.
IOI Corp fell 11 sen to RM4.35, PPB Group and heavyweight Sime Darby were flat at RM15.86 and RM8.60 but KL Kepong rose four sen to RM23.20.
F&N fell 30 sen to RM18.20 and it was the top loser in relatively thin trade but BAT jumped RM1.10 to RM64.20 and Dutch Lady gained 18 sen to RM47.68.
SEB hit limit-up, surging 30 sen to 76 sen in active. Before market close, it was queried by Bursa Malaysia Securities over the price surge.
The ringgit weakened again, falling to 4.2590 against the US dollar and slipped to 6.5389 versus the pound sterling and dropped to 3.0596 against the Singapore unit.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.9% to 18,777.04;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.11% to 23,142.73;
Shanghai’s Composite Index rose 0.14% to 3,434.34;
Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.5% to 8,701.32;
South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.17% to 2,044.65; and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index lost 0.99% to 3,052.53.
Spot gold rose US$2.70 to US$1,165.74.
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