KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips slipped back into the red early Tuesday as mild profit taking of Petronas Gas and BAT weighed on the FBM KLCI.
At 9.55am, the KLCI was down 0.37 of a point or 0.02% to 1,717.99. Turnover was 460.20 million shares valued at RM189.16mil. There were 186 gainers, 311 losers and also 311 counters unchanged.
Asian stocks edged higher on Tuesday as investors took heart from further evidence of strength in the global economy, while the dollar hovered near a one-week high against its peers thanks to higher US yields and a floundering euro, Reuters reported.
Gains on Wall Street overnight also helped MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan tack on 0.15%. South Korea's KOSPI rose 0.25%, Australian stocks climbed 0.15% and Japan's Nikkei advanced 1.25%.
However, Kenanga Investment Bank Research said since the KLCI has broken below the support level of 1,727, the technical outlook remains biased on the downside with no near-term sign of recovery.
“On any further weakness, support levels can be found at 1,714 (S1) and psychological level of 1,700 (S2) below. Conversely, the resistance levels are now 1,734 (R1) and 1,750 (R2),” it said.
As for tech stocks, MPI fell the most, down 32 sen to RM13.22, Vitrox 16 sen to RM5.05 and Globetronics eight sen lower at RM6.14. However, KESM added 18 sen to RM19.38.
BAT lost 20 sen to RM39.80 and Heineken fell 12 sen to RM17.88 but Nestle gained 38 sen to RM90.22.
Petronas Gas was 16 sen lower at RM16.50 while refiners Petron and Hengyuan also gave up some recent gains. Petron lost 12 sen to RM11.80 and Hengyuan was down 10 sen to RM9.98.
Asia File
rose nine sen to RM3.05, Degem and Press Metal gained seven sen to 96 sen and RM4.72.
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