The scope of the Sales and Services Tax (SST) will be expanded to cover four new types of services effective March 1. They included amusement park operations, securities brokerage and underwriting, cleaning services, and training provision,
KUALA LUMPUR: The local market saw some investors opting out as regional markets fell over renewed concerns over US interest rate hikes.
At midday, the FBM KLCI retraced some of the gains from the previous session, falling 1.35 points to 1,854.25. Turnover was 1.48 billion shares worth RM841.53mil. There were 357 decliners versus 245 advancers and 576 counters unchanged.
Tenaga Nasional led the market lower, shedding 10 sen to RM15.60. Other decliners included Hong Leong Bank, which lost 10 sen to RM18.54, and MISC, which fell five sen to RM7.07.
Gainers included IHH Healthcare, adding six sen to RM6.09, and Petronas Gas, rising 10 sen to RM18.
Public Bank put on six sen to RM22.20 ahead of its midday earnings announcement. For the full financial year, the bank posted earnings of RM5.47bil, a 5% improvement over that of the previous year. It declared an interim dividend of 34 sen a share.
On the wider market, Dutch Lady
moved RM1.36 higher to RM65.96. British American Tobacco gained 26 sen to RM30.56 and Genting Plantations added 25 sen to RM10.16.
Toyo Ink was issued an unusual market activity query by the stock exchange following a sharp rise in its share price in morning trade. At 12.30pm, the counter was up 24 sen to RM1.02.
On the decline, MAHB dropped 11 sen to RM8.78, Litrak fell 14 sen to RM5.75 and SPB lost 20 sen to RM4.70.
In oil markets, prices drew lower as the US dollar continued to firm up on increased confidence over interest rate hikes.
WTI crude fell 67 cents to US$61.01 a barrel and Brent crude dropped 53 cents to US$64.89 a barrel.
On the forex market, the ringgit softened against the stronger greenback, weakening a third of a percent to 3.9187.
It strengthened slightly against the pound sterling at 5.4509 and the Singapore dollar at 2.9580.
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