KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI continued its downtrend in morning trade on Thursday despite regional markets reacting positively to a bull run in global equity markets.
Japan's Nikkei hit its highest peak in more than two decades as it took its cue from record-breaking levels seen in Wall Street. The Nikkei was up 0.5% to 20.978.56 points.
South Korea's Kospi rose to a new record ahead of what are expected to be strong quarterly earnings. The Kospi rose 0.2% to 2,462 points, which was an all-time intraday high.
Back home, the FBM KLCI headed for its second straight day of losses, weighed down by Tenaga Nasional and IHH Healthcare.
At 12.30pm, the index dipped 4.2 points to 1,753.01 points. Turnover was 2.45 billion shares with a value of RM976.71mil. Advancers outpaced decliners 328 to 314 with 465 counters unchanged.
IHH Healthcare dropped 20 sen to RM5.71, shaving 2.7 points off the KLCI while Tenaga Nasional slipped 10 sen to RM14.10, bringing the index 0.92 points lower.
Other decliners included MISC Bhd
, which fell four sen to RM7.17 and Sime Darby, which dropped three sen to RM9.06.
In the telcos sector, Axiata dipped four sen to RM5.25. Other counters, however, fared better including Maxis which rose four sen to RM5.89 and Telekom Malaysia, which gained four sen to RM6.19. Digi was unchanged at RM4.88.
Banks were also the downtrend with Maybank dipping one sen to RM9.54, Ambank losing five sen to RM4.40 and Hong Leong Bank losing four sen to RM15.88. RHB Bank bucked the trend to gain one sen to RM5.12 while Public Bank was unchanged at RM20.56.
Asiamet Education Group soared in morning trade today, gaining 11 sen to 27.5 sen. Zhulian also advanced, putting on 15 sen to RM1.79 while Hartalega rose 18 sen to RM7.12.
Meanwhile Key Asic, which saw a major price surge yesterday ahead of an announcement of a corporate exercise, put on a futher 3.5 sen to 30.5 sen.
Among the decliners on Bursa included Allianz, which dropped 26 sen to RM14 and TAHPS Group, which fell 25 sen to RM6.70
Oil prices declined as Us oil inventories rose despite Opec efforts to reduce supply. WTI Crude dropped 25 cents to US$51.05 while Brent Crude fell 32 cents to US$56.62.
In currencies, the ringgit fared better against a sagging US dollar after the US Fed showed concern over the low levels of inflation.
The local currency gained 0.14% to 42165 against the greenback. It weakened 0.44% against the pound sterling at 5.5900 and slipped 0.25% against the Singapore dollar at 3.1154.
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