KUALA LUMPUR: Key Asian markets fell at midday on Friday while the FBM KLCI lost nearly six points while the ringgit lost ground against key currencies as the post-Brexit rally from two weeks ago eased.
At midday, the KLCI was down 5.82 points or 0.35% to 1,644.89. Turnover was 672.10 million shares valued at RM593.80mil. There were 195 gainers, 353 losers and 288 counters unchanged.
Crude palm oil for third month was down RM115 to RM2,240 per tonne, the lowest since Oct 12, 2015, following the fallout from the slide in soybean oil and soymeal prices which dropped in the past two days
The ringgit weakened against the US dollar to 4.0460 from the previous close of 4.0138 and slipped against the pound stelring to 5.2384 from 5.2117. It fell to 2.9977 against the Singapore dollar from 2.9795 and shed to 4.4847 to the euro from 4.4477.
US light crude oil rose 38 cents to US$45.52 and Brent gained 48 cents to US$46.88.
However, Petronas Gas fell 44 sen to RM22.22 with 164,000 shares done and erased 1.43 points from the KLCI. Petronas Dagangan lost eight sen to RM23.46 and Petronas Chemicals two sen to RMRM6.54. SK Petro was down four sen to RM1.40.
As for plantations, PPB Group fell the most among the plantation stocks, down 28 sen to RM16.22. KL Kepong lost eight sen RM23.14, Hap Seng Plantations six sen to RM2.35, Sime Darby five sen to RM7.49, Sarawak Oil Palms
three sen to RM3.87, Cepatwawasan 3.5 sen to 64 sen. FGV and IJM Plantations were flat at RM1.50 and RM3.39.
Among the banks, Maybank and Public Bank fell four sen each to RM8.16 and RM19.34 but Hong Leong Bank gained two sen to RM13.18 and CIMB three sen to RM4.38.
UMW was down 18 sen to RM5.37, Genting Malaysia shed seven sen to RM4.32, Genting Bhd four sen to RM7.99 but Tenaga rose four sen to RM14.08.
As for telcos, Axiata eight sen to RM5.46, Digi three sen to RM4.74 and Telekom one sen to RM6.78 but Maxis rose 10 sen to RM5.98.
TH Heavy fell to a record low of 6.5 sen in active trade earlier. It was down 2.5 sen to seven sen.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.66% to 15,175.11;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index lost 1% to 20,499.94;
CSI 300 shed 0.57% to 3,191.60;
Shanghai’s Composite Index lost 0.87% to 2,990.68;
Shenzhen Composite slipped 0.11% to 2,013;
Hang Seng China Enterprise fell 1.2% to 8,497.91;
South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.6% to 1,962.33
Singapore’s Straits Times Index lost 0.79% to 2,830.65.
Spot gold lost US$2.30 to US$1,358.15.
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