KUALA LUMPUR: The stronger-than-expected industrial production index in September failed to boost investor sentiment as the ringgit continued to lose ground and worries about outflows when the US hikes interest rates in December.
At 12.30pm, the KLCI was down 3.31 points or 0.2% to 1,682.39. Turnover was 1.22 billion shares valued at RM756.89mil. There were 348 gainers, 384 losers and 351 counters unchanged.
Southeast Asian stock markets were flat-to-weaker on Monday as a contraction in Chinese exports and worries over a likely Fed rate hike in December prompted investors to take quick profits, with Indonesia leading the pack amid a fall in the rupiah, according to Reuters.
The ringgit weakened against the major currencies. The ringgit slipped to 4.3635 to the US dollar from the previous close of 4.3112 while it was at 6.5754 to the pound sterling from 6.5427 and was at 3.0677 against the Singapore dollar from 3.0621.
Genting Bhd
fell 19 sen to RM7.62 and was the main drag on the KLCI.
Among the consumer stocks, BAT fell 72 sen to RM59.48 and Nestle lost 66 sen to RM72.40.
Among the banks and finance stocks, HLFG-OR lost 56 sen to RM2.38 and HLFG was down 38 sen to RM14.16, Public Bank and AmBank six sen each to RM18.18 and RM4.70, CIMB threesen to RM4.66, Maybank one sen to RM8.34 and RHB Capital was flat at RM6.20.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery rose RM33 to RM2,355 per tonne. KL Kepong lost 16 sen to RM22.84, PPB Group and IOI Corp were flat at RM15.52 and RM4.33 while Sime Darby lost three sen to RM8.30.
Bumi Armada jumped 10.5 sen to RM1.10 on news reports that it was working with MISC to possibly consolidate their combined floating production storage offshore (FPSO) businesses. MISC fell three sen to RM9.20.
Glove makers traded higher, with Top Glove up 19 sen to RM9.59 and Kossan gained 17 sen to RM8.58.
US light crude oil rose 36 cents to US$44.65 and Brent added 39 cents to US$47.81.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.91% to 19,633.55;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.12% to 22,894.91;
Shanghai’s Composite Index rose 1.63% to 3,648.42;
Shenzen Composite rose 1.12% to 2,176.50;
Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.53% to 8,647.51;
South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.6% to 2,028.86 and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.14% to 3,014.63.
Spot gold rose US$3.41 to 1,093.21.
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