KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI closed in the red on Thursday, dragged down by losses in Axiata Group Bhd
and Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) following the release of their latest quarterly financial results amid a mixed broader market.
At 5pm, the 30-stock index was down 1.76 points to 1680.30. Turnover on the stock exchange was 1.74 billion shares valued at RM1.89bil. Losers outpaced gainers by 523 to 297, while 379 counters were unchanged.
Maybank, which has a 7.87% weightage on the FBM KLCI, dragged the index down by 1.4905 points. Axiata has a weightage of 4.98 dragged the index down by 2.6584 points.
Maybank saw its net profit decline 26.8% to RM1.16bil for the second quarter ended June 30, 2016, from RM1.58bil in the corresponding period last year due to higher impairment losses.
During the period in review, the largest lender in Malaysia saw its revenue increase 22.4% to RM10.94bil from RM8.93bil in the previous corresponding period. The group’s earnings per share (EPS) fell to 11.79 sen from 16.76 sen a year ago.
Maybank declared a first interim dividend of 20 sen per share.
Axiata’s net profit fell 69% to RM188.93mil in the second quarter ended June 30, 2016 from a year ago due to higher finance cost and foreign exchange losses. Revenue, however, was higher at RM5.31bil compared with RM4.71bil.
At Bursa Malaysia, Panasonic Manufacturing rose 46 sen to RM37.96, Khind added 25 sen to RM2.37 while Kawan Food gained 18 sen to RM3.46.
Among the banks, CIMB rose one sen to RM4.69, Public Bank fell 2 sen to RM19.74 while Hong Leong Bank closed unchanged at RM13.14.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 tumbled 0.25% to 16,555.95;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.03% to 22,826.87;
South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.04% to 2,042.92;
Taiwan’s Taiex Index rose 1.09% to 9,115.47;
Singapore’s Straits Times Index up 0.26% to 2,876.93.
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