KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI rose to an intra-day high of 1,699.96, just a hair's breadth away from the important 1,700-level on Thursday, before late selling pressure on Maxis and CIMB pushed it into the red.
At 5pm, the KLCI was down 2.83 points or 0.17% to 1,688.20. Turnover was 1.86 billion shares valued at RM2.25bil. There were 411 gainers, 415 losers and 345 counters unchanged.
Most key Asian equities markets were higher except Hong Kong. Crude oil slipped with US light crude down nine cents to RM34.57 and Brent lost 22 cents to US$36.71 over the higher US inventory.
Meanwhile, sentiment towards most emerging Asian currencies has improved compared to two weeks ago, as Chinese monetary stimulus, upbeat US economic data and a recovery in oil prices bolstered risk assets, a Reuters poll showed.
The ringgit gained ground against the US dollar and Singapore unit but fell against the pound sterling. It was at 4.1345 to the greenback, an improvement from the 4.1670 the previous day while it firmed up to 2.9678 to the Singapore dollar from 2.9705. It slipped to 5.8154 against the pound from 5.8134.
CIMB fell 15 sen to RM4.50 with 19.66 million shares done and erased 2.18 points. AmBank lost 10 sen to RM4.42 and Maybank shed one sen to RM8.74 but HLFG rose 12 sen to RM14.28, Hong Leong Bank and Public Bank added two sen to RM13.18 and RM18.66 while RHB Cap 10 sen to RM5.56 while.
As for telcos, Maxis fell 16 sen to RM6.26 and wiped out 2.05 points from the KLCI, Axiata and Telekom were flat at RM6 and RM6.63 while Digi lost two sen to RM5.06.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery reversed from the earlier losses to climb RM4 to RM2,494 per tonne. PPB Group rose 14 sen to RM16.32, KL Kepong 12 sen to RM24, IOI Corp three sen to RM4.81 while Sime Darby was flat at RM7.90 but BLD Plantations fell 32 sen to RM8.80.
As for oil and gas stocks, Petronas Gas added six sen to RM22.40, SK Petro three sen to RM2.08 and Petronas Chemicals two sen to RM6.92 and Petronas Dagangan shed two sen to RM24.98.
CMSB fell 15 sen to RM4.90 in active trade after Maybank Invetsment Bank Research downgraded its call on the stock to a Hold from Buy previously.
Hap Seng-WA was the best performer, up 30 sen to RM5.95. The warrants, issued on Aug 15, 2011 have a five-year maturity date at Aug 9, 2016. Based on the exercise price of RM1.65, they are still in the money as the total amount needed to convert the warrants would be RM7.60. Hap Seng shares rose six sen to RM7.64.
The star performer on Bursa for the fourth day was AirAsia, adding five sen to RM1.68 with 99.62 million shares done. AirAsia X
rose one sen to 28.5 sen and the warrants three sen to 12 sen.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.28% to 16,960.16;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slppied 0.31% to 19,941.76;
CSI 300 rose 0.23% to 3,058.42;
Shanghai’s Composite Index added 0.35% to 2,859.76;
Shenzhen Composite shed 0.14% to 1,758.13;
Hang Seng China Enterprise gained 0.2% to 8,390.79;
Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.79% to 8,611.79;
South Korea’s Kospi wa sup 0.55% to 1,958.17 and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 1.94% to 2,779.77.
Spot gold rose US$3.02 to US$1,243.
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