KUALA LUMPUR: Key Asian markets were mostly lower at midday, dragged down by losses in China while at Bursa Malaysia, blue chips lost traction, weighed down by Petronas Chemicals.
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was up 1.07 points or 0.06% to 1,664.24. Turnover was 91.32 million shares valued at RM691.32mil. There were 248 gainers, 387 losers and 346 stocks unchanged.
The ringgit rebounded against the US dollar to 4.2120 versus the previous close of 4.2240. It also firmed up against the pound to 5,8712 from 5.9038 but weakened against the Singapore dollar to 3.0008 from 2.9973.
China stocks fell more than 3% on Thursday, led by small-caps, as investors took profits from a solid rebound over the past month and awaited policy messages from Chinese and other global leaders gathering in Shanghai for a G20 meeting, Reuters repored.
The blue-chip CSI300 index tumbled 3.4% to 3,005.23 by lunch time, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 3.6% to 2,823.06.
US light crude oil fell 25 cents to US$31.90 and Brent was down 33 cents to US$34.08.
Petronas Chemicals fell 15 sen to RM6.90 and erased 2.01 points from the KLCI. Petronas Dagangan shed four sen to RM25.06, Petronas Gas fell two sen to RM22.38 while SapuraKencana gained three sen to RM1.93.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery rose RM22 to RM2,541 per tonne. KL Kepong gave up some of the recent gains, down 50 sen to RM23.98 while Sime Darbylsot three sen to RM7.61, IOI Corp added three sen to RM4.77 and PPB Group four sen to RM16.12.
Consumer stocks were among the top gainers, Dutch Lady
climbed 42 sen to RM50.44 and Nestle 32 sen to RM75 in thin trade. BAT edged up two sen to RMRM55.62.
Tenaga Nasional gained two sen to RM13.22 and UMW was up three sen to RM6.93.
As for telcos, Axiata added eight sen to RM5.99, Telekom three sen to RM6.65 but Digi shed one sen to RM5 and Maxis five sen lower at RM6.25.
CIMB added seven sen to RM4.34, Maybank rose three sen to RM8.66, Public Bank edged up two sen to RM18.36 but Hong Leong Bank and AmBank shed two sen to RM13.10 and RM4.51.
Among the top gainers were PIE, up 16 sen to RM10.86, HL Industries and Globetronics 15 sen higher at RM6.20 and RM5.61.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.62% to 16,014.85;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.23% to 18,956.66;
CSI 300 skidded 3.35% to 3,005.23;
Shanghai’s Composite Index tumbled 3.61% to 2,823.06;
Shenzhen Composite skidded 4.76% to 1,787.08;
Hang Seng China Enterprise lost 1.71% to 7,924.20;
Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.87% to 8,354.75;
South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.09% to 1,910.88 and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index edged up 0.08% to 2,622.09.
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