KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips extended their losses in mid-morning trade on Thursday depsite the firmer ringgit and jump in crude oil prices as Tenaga Nasional, Axiata and SapuraKencana Petroleum came under selling pressure.
At 10.30am, the KLCI was down 7.39 points or 0.44% to 1,684.95. Turnover was 610.32 million shares valued at RM454.83mil. There were 236 gainers, 270 losers and 288 counters unchanged.
Asian stocks rose for the first time in a week after the Federal Reserve's interest-rate signals calmed markets before a forecast expansion of monetary stimulus in Japan. New Zealand's dollar strengthened and crude oil held above US$45 a barrel, Bloomberg reported. US light crude slipped 0.4% to US$45.13 a barrel, after jumping 6.3% over the last two sessions.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported China's industrial economy continues to face difficulties and challenges, with structural imbalances in the sector persisting.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on Thursday. That China's industrial companies face production and operating difficulties and there is still relatively high pressure on the industrial sector to stabilise growth.
The ringgit firmed up against the US dollar and pound sterling. It firmed up to 3.9100 to the dollar from 3.9150 and strengthened to 5.6819 against the pound from 5.7128.
At Bursa Malaysia, Tenaga Nasional fell 14 sen to RM14.26 in active trade after reported a slide in earnings and Axiata fell 13 sen to RM5.67.
SKPetro was down 10 sen to RM1.67 on news that Seadrill plans to dipose of its stake, comprising of 490 million shares, at prices ranging from RM1.56 to RM1.66.
Consumer stocks fell the most, with BAT down RM1.70 to RM50.40, Dutch Lady
was down 30 sen to RM53.50. However, F&N continued to climb, up 60 sen to RM23.20 and Ajinomoto 36 sen to RM10.76 while Heineken was up 12 sen to RM15.10.
Petronas Gas rose 14 sen to RM22.08 and PPB Group 10 sen higher at RM16.22.
Spring Gallery extended its decline to fall four sen to RM1.06 after traders reduced their stakes following the recent query from Bursa Securities. Its loan stocks fell one sen to 6.5 sen.
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