KUALA LUMPUR: Sime Darby underpinned the FBM KLCI at midday on Monday after a volatile morning session amid a weaker broader market as the ringgit lost gound against some major currencies.
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was up 1.02 points or 0.06% to 1,628.28. Turnover was 719.66 million shares valued at RM589.78mil. There were 187 gainers, 494 losers and 288 stocks unchanged.
MIDF Equities Research estimates net foreign selling of Malaysian equities had eased to -RM493mil in the week ended Nov 25 which was the lowest in the month.
Felda Global Ventures (FGV) fell in active trade as CIMB Equities Research says the plantations giant may face a backlash from the markets in the short-term from the RM300mil write-off stemming from fraud in a joint venture in Turkey.
Bumi Armada
fell to fresh historic lows after the disappointing results though analysts expect the performance to do improve next year.
The ringgit weakened against most currencies, falling 0.1% against the US dollar to 4.4625 from last Friday's close of 4.4583; it was down against the pound sterling to 5.5814 from 5.5525; weakened against the Singapore dollar to 3.1364 from 3.1280 and slipped against the Euro to 4.7547 from 4.7340.
Oil prices tumbled on Monday on fears that producer countries may fail to agree an output cut, pressuring US stocks and the dollar as traders reversed their "Trumpflation" trade as weak oil prices would reduce pressure on US interest rates to rise, Reuters reported.
That gave some relief to Asian shares, which had underperformed on worries about capital flight to higher-yielding US markets in the weeks since Donald Trump's Nov. 8 election win.
US light crude oil was down nine cents to US$45.97 and Brent shed 12 sen to US$47.12.
Petronas Gas rose six sen to RM21.42, Petronas Chemicals edged up one sen to RM6.80 and Petronas Dagangan was flat at RM23.58. SapuraKencana fell two sen to RM1.42 while Bumi Armada skidded 3.5 sen to 51.5 sen in active trade.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery rose RM2 to RM3,052 per tonne. PPB Group added 20 sen to RM16, Ta Ann added nine sen to RM3.86, Sime Darby rose seven sen to RM8.17 and pushed the KLCI up 0.76 of a point while IOI Corp gained two sen to RM4.38. KL Kepong fell 10 sen to RM24.
Among the banks, Public Bank rose four sen to RM19.54, Maybank fell five sen to RM7.75 and erased 0.84 of a point from the KLCI, RHB Bank lost six sen to RM4.64, CIMB and Hong Leong Bank were flat at RM4.66 and RM13.24.
Tenaga Nasional shed two sen to RM14.18, IHH Healthcare rose three sen to RM6.42 and Genting Bhd added dive sen to RM8.05.
As for telcos, Maxis rose nine sen to RM5.90, Telekom four sen higher at RM6.26 and Digi was flat at RM4.97 while Axiata lost four sen to RM4.22.
Kim Hin was the top gainer, surging 26 sen to RM1.82, The Store and Hap Seng 10 sen higher at RM3 and RM7.98 while JHM gained nine sen to RM1.65.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.37% to 19,314.10;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.71% to 22,885.08;
CSI 300 rose 0.6% to 3,542.41;
Shanghai’s Composite Index added 0.51% to 3,278.51;
Hang Seng China Enterprise jumped 1.08% to 9,9895.94;
Taiwan’s Taiex added 0.74% to 9,227.27;
South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.36% to 1,981.65;
Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.84% 2,883.46.
Spot gold rose RM8.84 to US$1,192.40.
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