KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips fell more than three points at midday on Monday, in line with the insipid performance of its regional peers, weighed down by losses in Maybank, PetChem and Maxis while the ringgit lost ground.
At 12.30 pm, the FBM KLCI fell 3.06 points to 1,680.03. It opened 3.85 points weaker at 1,679.24. Losers thumped gainers 452 to 247, while 323 counters were unchanged. Turnover stood at 812.13 million shares worth RM496.43mil.
Bloomberg reported that emerging market currencies fell, led by the South Korean won and the Malaysian ringgit, as gauge of the dollar strengthened to the highest level in three weeks after Federal Reserve leaders spurred bets US interest rates will rise as soon as next month.
Both Asian currencies headed for their biggest declines in almost two weeks after Fed Chair Janet Yellen said Friday the case for tightening had strengthened, a message later reinforced by Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer, who said a rate increase in September is possible.
The ringgit was quoted at 4.0395 against the US dollar.
According to JF Apex, the benchmark index could trade sideways and continue to hover below its resistance level of 1,705 in the absence of any catalyst.
On Bursa Malaysia, consumer stocks dominated both the gainers and losers’ list. Dutch Lady
was the top gainer, up 84 sen to RM58.54, DKSH rose 40 sen to RM5.86 while The Store gained 28 sen to RM2.80.
BAT was the top loser, down 56 sen to RM49.82, Nestle shed 50 sen to RM78.580 and Inari-WA fell 24 sen to RM2.71.
Among the banks, Maybank lost 5 sen to RM7.95, Public Bank rose 6 sen to RM19.76 while CIMB Group up 6 sen to RM4.76.
International benchmark Brent crude oil prices were trading at US$49.32 per barrel, down 60 cents.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 66 cents at US$46.98 a barrel.
Among the key regional markets:
Japan’s Nikkei 225 is up 2.44% to 16,759.52;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index is down 0.35% to 22,828.30;
Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.21% to 3,063.80;
South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.35% to 2,030.39 and;
Taiwan’s Taiex down 0.24% to 9,110.17;
Singapore’s Straits Times Index is down 0.74% to 2,836.43 points.
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