Aeon Credit, Genting slump early Thursday

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia started Thursday on a cautious note with Aeon Credit, Genting Bhd and Sime Darby Plantation among the biggest decliners.

At 9.25am, the FBM KLCI was down 1.3 points or 0.07% to 1,736.36. Turnover was 293.56 million shares valued at RM131.58m. There were 214 gainers, 137 losers and 249 counters unchanged.

On the external front, Asian stocks edged higher after the Federal Reserve delivered a much-anticipated interest rate hike but flagged caution about inflation, tempering expectations for future tightening, which weighed on the dollar and Treasury yields, Reuters reported.

The Fed's less hawkish statements supported MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan, which rose 0.3%.

Australian stocks added 0.2% and South Korea's KOSPI climbed 0.55%. Japan's Nikkei inched up 0.1%.

At Bursa Malaysia, Aeon Credit fell to an early low of RM12.70 after the Inland Revenue Board slapped the company with additional taxes and penalties of RM96.82mil. It was down 30 sen to RM12.94.

Genting Bhd fell 13 sen to RM8.95, Sime Plantations lost 10 sen to RM5.28, Padini and Unisem six sen each to RM5.32 and RM3.29 while Genting Malaysia shed six sen to RM5.58.

Petron fell six sen to RM12.94 but Hengyuan rose 20 sen to RM12.66.

LPI rose 26 sen to RM18.40, Hong Leong Bank gained 20 sen to RM16.78, Yinson climbed 12 sen to RM3.88 and MAHB 10 sen higher at RM8.44.