KUALA LUMPUR: Public Bank, Tenaga Nasional and IHH Healthcare led blue chips slightly higher early Tuesday but analysts expected investor concerns about the volatile oil prices, weak Ringgit and uncertainties from the US Federal Reserve to cap any upside.
At 9.36am, the KLCI was up 1.61 points or 0.1% to 1,653.32. Turnover was 163.52 million shares valued at RM113.40mil. There were 168 gainers, 155 losers and 242 counters unchanged.
Asian shares edged lower on Tuesday as investors nervously waited on the outcomes of the Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan policy meetings that begin later in the session, according to a Reuters report.
Oil prices fell on Tuesday after Venezuela said that global crude supplies needed to fall by 10 percent in order to bring production down to consumption levels, Reuters added.
Brent crude oil futures were trading at US$45.80 per barrel at 0048 GMT, down 15 cents from their last close. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 25 cents at US$43.05 a barrel.
Kenanga Investment Bank Research said chart-wise, the KLCI was consolidating sideways below its 200-day SMA while looking to find some support from the 1,650 (S1) level.
“Overall indicators are still pointing towards a downside-bias consolidation play for the week with RSI and Stochastic easing on their decline, especially with the latter already in oversold condition.
“With the sentiment still uninspiring amidst the volatile oil prices, weak Ringgit and uncertainties ahead of the highly anticipated US FOMC meeting that begins today, we continue to view that the benchmark index will trade downside-bias towards the 1,650 (S1)/1,643 (S2) level this week. Overhead resistance are capped at 1,662 (R1) and 1,680 (R2),” it said.
Public Bank, Tenaga and IHH rose six sen each to RM19.54, RM14.48 and RM6.64 respectively. UMW gained seven sen to RM5.77 in thin trade.
Magni-Tech was the top gainer, up 11 sen to RM4.41 while FSBM jumped eight sen to 29 sen and SCGM inched up six sen to RM3.27.
Iris was the most active, up one sen to 17.5 sen with 13.41 million shares done. Iris plans to work with a China-based property developer to undertake its 1Malaysia Civil Servants Housing (PPA1M) project in Putrajaya.
Sona Petroleum added one sen to 47.5 sen. Sona Petroleum, which is a special purpose acquisition company, plans to distribute 97% of the monies held in its cash trust account to eligible shareholders by November
Nestle fell the most, down 30 sen to RM79.60 and Heineken 28 sen lower at RM17.44 with 100 shares done. Genting Malaysia gave up part of Monday’s gains, down eight sen to RM4.53.
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