KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB and Genting were among heavyweights that brought the FBM KLCI lower in Friday's morning session as profit-taking in the counters erased much of the gains from yesterday's session.
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was down 7.06 points or 0.39% to 1,775.92. Turnover was 1.74 billion shares with a value of RM925.75mil. The broader market was weaker with decliners beating advancers 379 to 340 while 375 counters remained unchanged.
CIMB dropped 15 sen to RM6.76 while Genting fell 11 sen to RM9.87.
Genting Malaysia fell eight sen to RM5.87. British American Tobacco
was another big loser, falling 42 sen to RM44.18 while IHH Healthcare shaved 11 sen to RM5.87.
In the petroleum sector, Petronas Gas dropped 20 sen to RM18 while Petronas Dagangan fell 16 sen to RM24.32. Petronas Chemicals, still buoyed by news of disruptions in US oil refineries, rose five sen to RM7.45.
Among finance players, Maybank rose five sen to RM9.45, RHB dropped three sen to RM5.02, Hong Leong Bank dropped two sen to RM15.46 and Hong Leong Financial Group dropped 16 sen to RM16.84. AMMB and Public Bank were unchanged at RM4.32 and RM20.58 respectively.
Laggards also included Ajinomoto Malaysia, which fell 16 sen to RM19.20, Bursa Malaysia which lost 20 sen to RM10.22, and Hap Seng, which fell 12 sen to RM9.04.
Top gainers in the morning session included Dutch Lady, which rose 48 sen to RM59.10, and Panasonic Malaysia, which rose 34 sen to RM38.60.
Coke manufacturer Sino Hua-An resumed its upward trend, gaining 3.5 sen to 21.5 sen while Palette rose two sen to 24 sen.
Asian markets were a mixed bag on Friday as concerns continued over the storms sweeping over the Caribbean.
Oil prices rose as US crude production was hit harder by Hurricane Harvey than expected, with even bigger storm Irma heading for Florida and threatening to cause more disruption to the petroleum industry, Reuters reported.
WTI Crude was up 13 cents or 0.26% to US$49.22 per barrel while Brent Crude was up 25 cents or 0.46% to US$54.74 per barrel.
On the forex market, the US dollar skidded after European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi suggested the bank may begin tapering its massive stimulus programme this autumn.
The ringgit strengthened 0.61% against the USD to 4.185 and also rose 0.08% against the pound sterling at 5.4985. It weakened 0.13% against the Singapore dollar at 3.1329.
Limited time offer:
Just RM5 per month.
