Maybank, Public Bank, Petronas stocks fall early Friday

KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips extended their losses early Friday as investor sentiment was battered by US trade war rhetoric, with Maybank and Public Bank among the main drags on the FBM KLCI.

At 9.22am, the KLCI was down 6.48 points or 0.35% to 1,838.79. Turnover was 358.03 million shares valued at RM144.23mil. There were 157 gainers, 214losers and 256 counters unchanged.

Asian stocks were on the defensive on Friday as worries over the US investigation into the Trump Organization tested investor nerves, already frayed by fears US tariffs could hurt the global economy and trigger a trade war, Reuters reported.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.2% in early trade. Japan's Nikkei was down 0.3%.

At Bursa, it was Heineken and Carlsberg’s turn to come under profit taking after the previous day’s selldown of Nestle, Dutch Lady and F&N.

Heineken fell 80 sen to RM21.18 and Carlsberg 44 sen lower to RM19.10 but Nestle steadied and added RM1 to RM132, Dutch Lady gained 96 sen to RM68.50 and Ajinomoto 30 sen higher at RM22.84.

Oil prices crept higher on Friday after the International Energy Agency said global crude demand would accelerate this year, but warned supply is growing at a faster pace, Reuters reported.

US light crude rose five cents to US$61.24 and London Brent crude added two cents to $65.14.

Petronas Gas fell 20 sen to RM17.80 and Petronas Dagangan 16 sen lower at RM24.58 and Petronas Chemicals six sen down to RM8.09.

Maybank fell 14 sen to RM10.22 and Public Bank 12 sen to RM22.80.

Berjaya Food  lost eight sen to RM1.75. CIMB Equities Research downgraded its call to a Hold from Add due to the disappointing earnings with a lower end-2018F target price of RM1.75.

Magni-Tech's stronger earnings and dividend saw the share price jump 55 sen to RM5.09. LC Titan added nine sen to RM6.30.