The ringgit was up 0.1% to the US dollar at 3.30pm on Monday. Year-to-date, it was at 4.1557 to the greenback.
KUALA LUMPUR: The stronger ringgit was unable to provide the much needed support to the equities market as the FBM KLCI slumped again into the red on Monday.
At 5pm, the KLCI was down 3.3 points or 0.19% to 1,718.36. Turnover fell to 1.98 billion shares valued at RM2.14bil. Decliners beat advancers 2.5 to one or 610 losers to 239 gainers while 460 counters were unchanged.
The ringgit rose 0.24% on the day against the US dollar to 4.1510 and climbed 0.13% to the pound sterling at 5.5064 and increased by 0.12% against the Singapore dollar at 3.0632. It rose 0.17% versus the euro to 4.8994.
Bank Negara Malaysia Governor Tan Sri Muhammad Ibrahim pointed out the ringgit was now priced more efficiently and increasingly more reflective of Malaysia’s strong fundamentals. “While the influence of external factors have been squashed, it is far from reflecting its fair value due to misperceptions,” he said.
Asian shares pulled back on Monday with investor sentiment hurt by a retreat on Wall Street, while the euro and German stock futures skidded after German coalition talks hit an impasse, Reuters reported.
At Bursa Malaysia, Genting Bhd
fell 16 sen to RM9.04 and erased 1.01 points from the KLCI. Genting Malaysia shed one sen to RM4.93, Tenaga Nasional lost two sen to RM14.82 and IHH Healthcare rose five sen to RM5.62.
Most of the banks were in the red, as RHB Bank fell the most 10 sen to RM4.72, Hong Leong Bank lost eight sen to RM15.70, AmBank seven sen to RM4.24, Public Bank gave up six sen to RM20.32, CIMB shed two sen to RM5.98 and Maybank one sen to RM9.21.
US light crude oil rose 10 cents to US$56.65 but Brent slid 22 cents to US$62.50. Petronas Dagangan fell 14 sen to RM23.28, Petronas Chemicals one sen lower at RM7.28 while Petronas Gas added two sen to RM16.66. Petron skidded 18 sen to RM11.92.
As for telcos, Axiata and Maxis rose one sen each to RM5.29 and RM5.94, Digi was flat at RM4.74 and Telekom shed one sen to RM5.98.
Among the consumer stocks, Dutch Lady lost 28 sen to RM60, Heineken 22 sen to RM18 but Nestle added 64 sen to RM90.54 and BAT 48 sen higher at RM40.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery fell RM82 to RM2,632 per tonne, the lowest since Aug 9 as India rose the import duty for edible oils.
KL Kepong fell 10 sen to RM24.32, PPB Group four sen lower at RM16.56, IOI Corp was flat at RM4.44 but Sime Darby added two sen to RM8.99. However, Far East added 11 sen to RM9.60 and Genting Plantations eight sen higher at RM10.48.
As for tech stocks, Vitrox fell 33 sen to RM5.21 but MPI jumped 44 sen to RM13.54.
TriPlc jumped 17 sen to RM2.38 while GBH, Magni-Tech and BSL added eight sen each to RM1.39, RM6.78 and 79 sen.
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