For the month, the FBM KLCI is down 3.18% and year-to-date, it is down 8.02%.
KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips capped off the morning session on Wednesday on a softer note as Genting Bhd
and Genting Malaysia slipped on mild profit taking, oil prices fell and the ringgit dipped against key currencies.
At 12.30pm, the KLCI was down 1.52 points or 0.08% to 1,789.49. Turnover was 1.25 billion shares valued at RM981.63mil. There were 299 gainers, 413 losers and 387 counters unchanged.
Investors adopted a cautious stance ahead of a barrage of events due in the next 48 hours. There’s a reluctance to add to risk positions ahead of testimony from former FBI Director James Comey, the ECB’s policy decision and the UK election, reported Bloomberg.
The ringgit weakened against several currencies except the pound sterling. It fell 0.11% to the US dollar to 4.2715, shed 0.09% to the Singapore dollar to 3.0926 and was down 0.22% against the euro at 4.8106. However, it rose against the pound sterling to 5.5095.
The pound could plunge to as low as US$1.20 against the US dollat on Friday, a level last seen in January, should the UK snap election lead to a hung parliament, according to a Bloomberg poll of analysts.
Such an outcome, though seen as unlikely, would be marginally more negative than even an electoral upset that sees the Labour Party defying odds to emerge the winner, according to the survey of 11 banks and brokerages, it reported.
At Bursa Malaysia, Genting Malaysia fell 11sen to RM5.67 and erased 1.07 points while Genting Bhd was down 11 sen to also to RM9.84 and wiped out 0.69 of a point. MISC fell two sen to RM7.46, Tenaga and IHH were flat at RM14.20 and RM6.04.
FGV rose three sen to RM1.65 I active trade after the heavy selling pressure the previous day folowing the management crisis.
Crude palm oil for third-month deliveryfell RM15 to RM2,484 per tonne. KL Kepong fell six sen to RM24.80, PPB Group four sen lower at RM16.94 while Sime Darby and IOI Corp shed one sen each to RM9.56 and RM4.54.
US light crude oil shed three cents to US$48.16 per barrel and Brent dipped five cents to US$50.07. Petronas Dagangan fell eight sen to RM24.16, Petronas Chemicals shed one sen to RM7.19 and Petronas Gas unchanged at RM19.18.
As for banks, Hogn Leong Bank gained 10 sen to RM15.38, Public Bank rose four sen to RM20.34, RHB Bank and Maybank were one sen higher at RM5.19 and RM9.59. AmBank shed one sen to RM4.93, CIMB three sen lower at RM6.71 while
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 shed 0.12% to 19,955.63;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index eased 0.03% to 25,988.32;
CSI 300 jimped 1.05% to 3,529.53;
Shanghai’s Composite Index gained 0.93% to 3,131;
Hang Seng China Enterprise rose 0.4% to 10,649.08;
Taiwan’s Taiex shed 0.06% to 10,200.41;
South Korea’s Kospi was flat at 2,368.58; and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained 0.21% to 3,242.43.
Spot gold lost US$3.18 to US$1,291 per troy ounce.
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