KUALA LUMPUR: Late selling of CIMB, Maybank and Public Bank saw the FBM KLCI closing down nearly 10 points as investors turned cautious in line with the key Asian markets and ahead of the 14th General Election.
At 5pm, the KLCI was down 9.97 points or 0.54% to 1,841.83. Turnover was 1.61 billion shares valued at RM2.12bil. There were 325 gainers, 525 losers and 401 counters unchanged.
World stocks were set for their biggest weekly loss since the middle of March on Friday, while the dollar hovered near highs hit on its recent rally as investors awaited jobs data from the US, Reuters reported.
The MSCI All-Country World Index, a gauge of stocks across 47 countries, was up less than 0.1% on the day. It was set for a 1.2% loss this week, its highest since the week ended March 23.
The ringgit weakened against the resurgent US dollar, down 0.17% to 3.9395. However, it rose 0.31% to the pound sterling at 5.3373 and climbed 0.21% against the euro to 4.7133 and edged up 0.09% against the Singapore unit to 3.9549.
There was not much comfort for investors as political issues weighed despite firmer economic fundamentals.
Firstly, Moody's Investors Service pointed out Malaysia's A3 credit profile is supported by its large and diversified economy, ample natural resources and robust medium-term growth prospects.
Secondly, Malaysia exports rose 2.2% to RM84.5bil in March, exceeding Bloomberg's survey of a 2% increase, underpinned by higher exports of electrical and electronic (E&E) products and crude petroleum.
CIMB fell 23 sen to RM6.77, the lowest since early February on accelerated profit taking and erased 3.87 points from the KLCI.
Public Bank fell 14 sen to RM23.80 and erased one point, Maybank shed eight sen to RM10.62 and wiped out 1.57 points. RHB Bank, AmBank and Hong Leong Bank lost six sen each to RM5.16, RM3.71 and RM18.60 respectively. HLFG lost 18 sen to RM18.82.
Other major decliners were consumer stocks, with F&N down 70 sen to RM34.94, BAT 58 sen lower at RM23, Carlsberg 44 sen lower at RM18.12.
TimeCom fell 17 sen to RM8.09, Apecx Healthcare 13 sen to RM5.57 and DRB-Hicom 11 sen lower at RM2.16.
Among telcos, Axiata and Telekom lost four sen each to RM5.15 and RM5.15 and RM5.16 while Maxis and Digi were flat at RM5.64 and RM4.53.
Genting Bhd
fell seven sen to RM8.63, Genting Malaysia eked out a one sen gain to RM5, Tenaga added eight sen to RM16.08 and MISC seven sen higher at RM7.12.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery rose RM7 to RM2,339 per tonne. IOI Corp lost three sen to RM4.74 while PPB Group and KL Kepong were unhanged at RM19.10 and RM25.50.
Sime Plantation fell two sen to RM5.49, Sime Darby rose seven sen to RM2.69 and gave the KLCI a 0.85 points boost while Sime Property unchanged at RM1.42.
US light crude oil fell 16 cents to US$68.27 and Brent was down 20 cents to US$73.42. Petronas Dagangan lost six sen to RM26.80, Petronas Gas two sen lower at RM17.76 and Petronas Chemical shed one sen to RM8.45.
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