KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips closed lower on Tuesday as losses by Genting Bhd
pushed the FBM KLCI to its lowest since early March but the disconnect with the ringgit continued as it rallied against several major currencies.
At 5pm, the KLCI was down 5.44 points or 0.32% to 1,714.42. Turnover was 1.80 billion shares valued at RM2.09bil. The broader market was cautious as decliners beat advancers two to one or 556 losers to 268 gainers and 445 counters unchanged.
Key Asian markets closed mixed with Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan in the red but China recovered to end the day slightly higher. As for Asean markets, only Malaysia was in the red.
A piece of good news was the ringgit which rose 0.26% to the US dollar at 4.1035, advanced 0.54% to the pound sterling at 5.4607; rose 0.58% to the euro at 4.8842 and climbed 0.28% against the Singapore unit at 3.0496.
Credit Suisse boosted its ringgit forecasts, saying the currency has room to extend gains due to Malaysia’s export recovery, improving growth and the currency’s undervaluation. It lifted three-month target to 4 per dollar from 4.10, and 12-month target to 3.80 from 4.
Genting Bhd fell 19 sen to RM9 and erased 1.19 points from the KLCI, MISC lost 12 sen to RM6.99, Genting Malaysia fell four sen to RM5.12, Tenaga two sen lower at RM14.98.
Among chip-related stocks, KESM lost 34 sen to RM19.40 and MPI was down 20 sen to RM13.10.
However, Inari shares were up 17 sen to RM3.30 and its warrants WA rose 21 sen to RM3.01 and WB 17 sen higher at RM2.48 after its strong earnings.
Hong Leong Bank rose 10 sen to RM15.40, Maybank was unchanged at RM9.20, AmBank fell 11 sen to RM4.12, CIMB and RHB Bank lost four sen each to RM5.93 and RM4.86 while Public Bank edged two sen lower to RM20.28.
US light crude oil fell 46 sen to US$57.65 and Brent lost 41 sen to US$63.43. Hengyuan lost 26 sen to RM10.40, Petronas Gas six sen lower at RM16.34, Petronas Chemicals gained seven sen to RM7.38 and Petronas Dagangan 18 sen higher at RM23.84.
As for telcos, Digi fell three sen to RM4.56, while Axiata and Telekom shed one sen each to RM5.30 and RM5.98 but Maxis added three sen to RM5.85.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery shed RM1 to RM2,588 per tonne. IOI Corp lost three sen to RM4.42, KL Kepong 12 sen lower at RM24.32, PPB Group was flat at RM16.64.
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