KUALA LUMPUR: Maxis dragged the FBM KLCI into the red at midday on Wednesday, erasing 2.6 points from the index and giving up two-thirds of its gains from the previous day
At 12.30pm, the KLCI was down 1.08 points or 0.06% to 1,681.29. Turnover was 975.78 million shares valued at RM834.67mil. There were 382 gainers, 337 losers and 320 counters unchanged.
The ringgit strengthened against the US dollar and pound sterling but weakened against the Singapore unit. It was at 4.2295 to the greenback versus the previous day’s 4.2327 and firmed up to 6.3719 to the pound from 6.3992 while it eased against the Singapore dollar to 3.0049 from 3.0026.
Key regional markets were mixed. Reuters reported China shares climbed as investors rotated out of small caps and into blue chips, and as speculation swirled that Beijing will announce more incentives to stimulate the property market.
Hong Kong stocks also rose, but more modestly, as downbeat US manufacturing data raised questions about the US economy and the pace of expected interest rate rises by the Federal Reserve.
At Bursa Malaysia, Maxis fell 21 sen to RM6.65, retreating from Tuesday’s gains of 30 sen. Axiata and DiGi lost one sen each to RM6.11 and RM5.06 but Telekom gained two sen to RM6.56.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery lost RM11 to RM2,327 on oversupply concerns. KL Kepong fell 12 sen to RM22.66, IOI Corp three sen to RM4.29 and Sime Darby six sen lower at RM7.91 but PPB Group rose six sen to RM15.76.
Among the banks, the ordinary rights shares of Hong Leong Bank-OR fell the most, down 22 sen to RM2.33 while Hong Hong Leong Bank and HLFG shed 10 sen each to RM13.26 and RM13.80.
AmBank lost two sen to RM4.70, Maybank was flat at RM8.45, Public Bank gained two sen to RM18.4 and CIMB rose four sen to RM4.59 while RHB Capital gained 20 sen to RM5.98.
US light crude oil fell 21 cents to US$41.64 and Brent shed 15 cents to US$44.29. Petronas Dagangan lost six sen to RM24.94, Petronas Chemicals one sen to RM6.79 but Petronas Gas rose four sen to RM23. SK Petro lost four sen to RM2.20.
PIE lost 13 sen to RM8.50 on profit taking while Pestech was down 14 sen to RM6.50.
Among the flexible packaging material manufacturers, Tomypak lost 11 sen to RM2.58 but Scientex, which is also involved in property, added 17 sen to RM8.40.
Top Glove advanced 29 sen to RM9.99, as the glove maker regained its bounced.
Muhibbah Engineering rose 13 sen to RM2.35 after securing a RM300mil contract from Petronas in Pengerang, Johor.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.25% to 19,962.34;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.27% to 22,441.55;
Shanghai’s Composite Index rose 0.35% to 3,468.31;
Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.02% 8,461.64;
South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.45% to 2,014.74; and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.7% to 2,890.33.
Spot gold fell 69 cents to US$1,068.60.
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