Banks were among the decliners at midday
At 12.30pm, the KLCI was down 9.18 points or 0.54% to 1,706.35. Turnover was 740 million shares valued at RM428mil. Decliners beat advancers nearly two to one or 388 losers to 202 gainers while 352 counters were unchanged.
The ringgit weakened against the major currencies. It fell to 4.0433 to the US dollar from 4.0293 the previous day and it declined to 5.7076 to the pound stelring from 5.6681 and it slipped to 2.9460 to the Singapore dollar from 2.9393.
At Bursa Malaysia, Public Bank was surprisingly the top loser, down 24 sen to RM18.54 with 976,600 shares done and erased 1.55 points from the KLCI. Its 50th AGM will be held on Monday.
CIMB was down eight sen to RM4.71 and wiped out 1.14 points while Maybank was down six sen to RM8.89 and shaved off nearly one point.
US light crude oil lost 33 cemts to US$39.46 and Brent three cents lower at US$40.44. Petronas Gas fell 10 sen to RM21.78, Petronas Chemicals one sen to RM6.70 but Petronas Daganagan rose six sen to RM24.20. SK Petro eked out one sen to advance to RM2.01.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery jumped RM45 to RM2,719 per tonne as analysts expect more upside due to the El Nino impact on supply. PPB Group fell 14 sen to RM16.54 but with just 100 shares done, IOI Corp 13 sen lower at RM4.70 and Sime Darby eight sen to RM7.92.
Genting Bhd
fell 10 sen to RM9.40 and Genting Malaysia three sen to RM4.42. Power giant Tenaga Nasional was up two sen to RM13.98.
As for telcos, Axiata was flat at RM5.86, Digi fell four sen to RM4.95 but Telekom added two sen to RM6.60 and Maxis was flat at RM6.30. Time dotCom lost 20 sen to RM7.25.
Among consumer stocks, Apollo's recent rally hit a speed bump as it fell 16 sen to RM6.10 in thin trade. Dutch Lady rose 50 sen to RM51.50 with just 100 shares done.
Selangor Properties fell 15 sen to RM5.60 after its disappointing financial results announced on Thursday.
Among the glove makers, Hartalega lost 13 sen to RM4.65. Scientex added six sen to RM12.50.
Hong Kong and Singapore were closed for Good Friday.
Among the key regional markets which were open,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.59% to 16,992.68;
Shanghai’s Composite Index added 0.25% to 2,968.23;
Taiwan’s Taiex lost 0.43% to 8,705.75;
South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.17% to 1,982.50.
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