KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia was the only market in the red at midday on Tuesday among the key Asian bourses as latest industrial showed slower growth while the ringgit weakened against the key currenices.
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was down 4.94 points or 0.3% to 1,648.93. Turnover was 697.36 million shares valued at RM559.13mil. There were 229 gainers, 357 losers and 369 counters unchanged.
The ringgit weakened against the US dollar to 4.0020 from 3.9938 on Monday. It fell 1.73% against the pound sterling to 5.2229 from 5.1342 and it was at 2.9626 to the Singapore dollar from 2.9616.
On the external front, the pound rose for a third day as Britain moved closer to getting a new prime minister, Bloomberg reported.
As for China stocks , they edged up on Tuesday after the US benchmark S&P 500 touched a new high overnight, but lagged gains in other Asian markets as domestic investors awaited growth data and details on planned reforms, according to Reuters.
Malaysia's industrial production index (IPI) in May rose at slower pace of 2.7% from year ago but the growth did exceed a survey of 2.5% growth. The growth was slower than April's on-year growth of 3% due to the decline in the mining output by 1.1%
At Bursa Malaysia, BAT was the top loser, falling 28 sen to RM54.72, F&N and Carlsberg fell 20 sen each to RM26 and RM14.50 but Dutch Lady
rose 40 sen to RM59.90.
Poultry company Lay Hong fell 21 sen to RM8.55.
US light crude oil was flat at US$44.76 and year-to-date, it is up nearly 21% while Brent edged up five cents to US$46.30 and since January, it has gained 24.2%.
Petronas Chemicals fell 12 sen to RM6.51 and erased 1.58 points from the KLCI. Petronas Dagangan eight sen lower at RM23.52 while Petronas Gas was flat at RM22.34. SK Petro was up one sen to RM1.41.
As for telcos, Maxis lost 11 sen to RM5.98 and wiped pout 1.36 points from the KLCI. Axiata lost three sen to RM5.47, Digi two sen to RM4.73 while Telekom was flat at RM6.76
UMW 14 sen to RM5.48 while Tenaga and Genting Bhd fell six sen each to RM14.12 and RM8.16 but Genting Malaysia gained two sen to RM4.30.
Among the banks, AmBank lost seven sen to RM4.34, CIMB and Hong Leong Bank fell six sen each to RM4.34 and RM13.20 while RHB Cap shed one sen to RM5.11 but Maybank rose one sen to RM8.20 and Public Bank gained six sen to RM19.40.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery was flat at RM2,240 per tonne.
Palm oil, on the verge of sliding into a bear market, may extend losses as a seasonal increase in
production threatens to expand stockpiles and demand falters, Bloomberg reported Godrej International Ltd.’s Dorab Mistry as saying.
“The recovery in palm oil production will pick up steam from July and this will lead to rising stocks and these two factors will exert pressure on palm prices,” said Mistry.
SimeDarby rose five sen to RM7.50, KL Kepong was flat at RM23.30, IOI Corp lost three sen to RM4.35 and PPB Group six sen lower at RM16.38
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 extended its rally from Monday to advance 2.86% to 16,158.40;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.5% to 20,985.77;
CSI 300 rose 0.14% to 3,207.93;
Shanghai’s Composite Index was flat at 2,994.88;
Shenzhen Composite shed 0.89% to 1,983.25;
Hang Seng China Enterprise added 0.37% to 8,734.95;
Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.52% to 8,832.45;
South Korea’s Kospi edged up 0.02% to 1,988.86; and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index advanced 0.26% to 2,883.57.
Spot gold eked out a one cent gain to US$1,355.41.
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