KLCI weighed down by profit-taking, ringgit gains on USD

KUALA LUMPUR: A spate of profit-taking took over the local bourse in morning Tuesday trade even as regional markets scaled to fresh peaks on strong sentiments over Chinese manufacturing.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI slipped back 16.88 points to 1,779.93 points. There were 1.87 billion shares done with a value of RM920.86mil. Decliners outpaced advancers 320 to 291 with 522 counters unchanged.

Investors were quick to cash in on Sime Darby Plantation's stellar performance last Friday, taking the counter 50 sen lower to RM5.50. The counter weighed down the KLCI by a hefty 5.50 points.

Heavyweight Maybank also saw a 17 sen decline to RM9.63, followed by Digi, which fell 22 sen to RM4.88.

Sime Property also declined, slipping back 33 sen to RM1.45.

Axiata dropped nine sen to RM9.40, while CIMB slipped four sen to RM6.50 and Petronas Gas declined 18 sen to RM17.30.

Among counters that lifted, Petronas Chemicals rose eight sen to RM7.78, Petronas Dagangan gained 12 sen to RM24.38, Genting rose six sen to RM9.26 and Genting Malaysia added six sen to RM5.69.

On the wider market, oil refiner bounced back from Friday's profit-taking, rising RM1.04 to RM17.34. Petron Malaysia also rose 30 sen to RM13.84. 

DRB-Hicom rose 28 sen to RM2.11, its highest in three years, while Aeon Credit gained 16 sen to RM13.62 and Kim Loong added 12 sen to RM4.38.

Stocks that slipped back included KLCC, which fell 73 sen to RM7.91, SP Setia, which dropped 64 sen to RM3.36 and MPI, which decilned 32 sen to RM12.30.

In commodities, oi prices had their highest January opening since 2014, Reuters reported.

US light crude was 14 cents higher at US$60.56 a barrel while Brent crude rose 21 cents to US$67.08 a barrel.

The ringgit continued to strengthen against major currencies. It rose 0.39% against the US dollar at 4.0307, 0.39% against the pound sterling at 5.4466 and 0.22% against the Singapore dollar at 3.0231.