KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips closed slightly lower on Wednesday, weighed down by telcos and banks while semiconductor-related KESM fell the most after it was downgraded.
At 5pm, the KLCI was down 1.17 points or 0.06% to 1,879.32, but off the late lows. Turnover was 2.34 billion shares valued at RM1.97bil.
The broader market showed signs of weakening as buyers stayed on the sidelines ahead of the General Election on May 9. Decliners beat advancers two to one or 617 losers to 285 gainers and 384 counters unchanged.
Foreign funds returned as net buyers at RM87.9mil while retail investors joined in with net buying at RM8.4mil while local institutions were net sellers at RM96.3mil.
The ringgit recovered from the previous day's losses. It climbed 0.02% to the US dollar to 3.8895 and advanced 0.88% to the pound sterling at 5.5216 and edged up 0.14% to the euro at 4.8092 while it inched up 0.11% to the Singapore dollar at 2.9658.
Hong Kong stocks rose, breaking a four-day losing streak, as China's surprise cut in banks' reserve requirement ratios buoyed financial shares, Reuters reported.
The Hang Seng index rose 0.7% to 30,284.25, while the China Enterprises Index also gained 0.7% to 11,986.07.
At Bursa Malaysia, semiconductor company KESM saw RM55.9mil erased from its market capitalisation and reduced to RM709.74mil. It closed down RM1.30 to RM16.50.
CIMB Equities Research downgraded it from Add to Hold with a lower RM19.60 target price from RM22.
MPI lost 24 sen to RM8.36 while Globetronics and Inari shed four sen each to RM4.29 and RM1.92.
Digi fell seven sen to RM4.57 and erased 0.98 of a point from the KLCI while Axiata shed six sen to RM5.38 and wiped out 0.97 of a point and Telekom's 10 sen declined erased 0.67 point. Maxis rose three sen to RM5.82.
Among the banks, Ambank fell five sen to RM3.90, Maybank and RHB Bank shed two sen each to RM10.60 and RM5.38 while CIMB was flat at RM7.30 and Public Bank gained two sen to RM24. Hong Leong Bank was the star among the KLCI stocks when it climbed 40 sen to RM19.26 and gave the KLCI a 1.5 point boost.
As for consumer stocks, BAT fell 26 sen to RM22.74, Dutch Lady
lost18 sen to RM67 but Heineken rose 20 sen to RM21 and Apollo 11 sen to RM3.91.
Genting Bhd rose seven sen to RM9.07, Genting Malaysia five sen to RM5.17 but Tenaga fell two sen to RM15.92.
Red Sena, which was seen pursuing food manufacturer Munchy, fell 0.5 sen to 46.5 sen after a news report stated CVC Capital Partners was close to an agreement to buy the company in a deal which could value it at RM1.1bil (US$283mil).
US light crude oil rose 59 cents to US$67.11 and Brent advanced 53 cents to US$72.11. Petronas Chemical fell six sen to RM8.45, Petronas Gas shed two sen to RM18.52 but Petronas Dagangan added eight sen to RM26.86.
Sime Darby rose one sen to RM2.79, Sime Property gained two sen to RM1.40 and Sime Plantation four sen to RM5.60.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery fell RM13 to RM2,395 per tonne. As for plantations, KL Kepong fell four sen to RM25.50, PPB Group two sen lower at RM18.62 but IOI Corp rose two sen to RM4.79.
Glove maker Kossan fell 27 sen to RM7.20 and Hartalega 13 sen lower to RM6.34 while Supermax added 14 sen to RM2.83.
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