KUALA LUMPUR: Petronas Chemical and Petronas Gas provided the much need lift for the FBM KLCI at the close of trade on Tuesday as the mild rebound almost fizzled out as funds were hesitant to pick up stocks which were battered down the previous day.
There was also not much inspiration for investors to draw from as Japan stocks fell more than 3% while the ringgit weakened against the major currencies. Oil prices plumbed towards US$30 a barrel as Petronas president and CEO Datuk Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin warned that the national oil company faced two to three tough years, according to Bloomberg.
At 5pm, the KLCI was up 3.78 points or 0.23% to 1,641.37, off the intra day’s high of 1,648. The 30-stock index fell 20 points the previous day.
Turnover was 1.80 billion shares valued at RM2.11bil. Decliners beat advancers 470 to 384 while 390 counters were unchanged.
The ringgit weakened against the major currencies to 4.4140 to the US dollar from 4.4385 while it was lower at 6.4097 to the pound sterling from 6.3910 and it was at 3.0642 to the Singapore dollar from 3.0539.
On the external front, Japanese stocks fell on Tuesday, weighed down by plunging crude oil prices that continue to damage risk appetite.
The Nikkei share average slipped 2.7% to 17,218.96, extending earlier losses for its lowest closing since almost a year ago, when the benchmark index closed at 16,864.16 on Jan 16, 2015, Reuters reported.
US light crude oil fell 71 cents to US$30.70 and Brent 58 cents lower at US$30.97.
At Bursa Malaysia, Petronas Gas rose 42 sen to RM21.70 while Petronas Chemicals added 15 sen to RM7.35. Their combined gains of 3.4 points accounted for nearly all of the KLCI’s gains. Petronas Dagangan added four sen to RM23.94, SK Petro fell three sen to RM1.77.
Shell Refining jumped 93 sen to RM6.03 with 4.6 million shares done, following the footsteps of Petron Malaysia
’s recent rally. Petron rose 16 sen to RM7.01.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery fell RM13 to RM2,385 per tonne. United Plantations lost 40 sen to RM25.38 and Sime Darby fell seven sen to RM7.35. PPB Group bucked the trend to climb 26 cents to RM15.98, KL Kepong six sen to RM22.86, IOI Corp one sen to RM4.34 but.
Hong Leong Bank gained eight sen to RM13.06, Public Bank and AmBank four sen to RM18.20 and RM4.40, RHB Cap ne sen to RM5.44, Maybank was flat at RM8.32 while CIMB shed three sen to RM4.12.
As for telcos, Axiata and TM gained two sen each to RM6.18 and RM6.56 while DiGi and Maxis were flat at RM5.16 and RM6.63.
Poultry company Lay Hong surged 51 sen to a record high of RM7.26 as investors were positive about its corporate exercise with Japan’s NH Foods.
Stretch film maker Scientex broke past the RM10 level, adding 49 sen to a record of RM10.18.
Profit taking saw condom maker Karex losing 19 sen to RM4.51.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 2.71% to 17,218.96;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index lost 0.89% to 19,711.76;
CSI 300 rose 0.73% to 3,215.71;
Shanghai’s Composite Index rose 0.2% to 3,022.86;
Shenzhen Composite added 0.39% to 1,855.39;
Hang Seng China Enterprise fell 0.77% to 8,439.31;
Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.26% to 7,768.45;
South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.21% to 1,890.86 and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.65% to 2,691.37.
Spot gold rose US$1.68 to US$1,095.87.
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