KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips closed off their intra-day low on Monday as investors stayed cautious ahead of the General Election on Wednesday while the broader market was also weaker.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI was down 13.63 points or 0.74% to 1,828.20. Turnover was 1.92 billion shares valued at RM2.09bil. There were 750 losers to 187 gainers and 362 counters unchanged.
Foreign funds continued to reduced their holdings in the local equities, selling RM273.6mil. Local institutions were net buyers at RM330mil and retailers sold RM56.4mil today.
On the external front, Hong Kong stocks rose slightly on Monday, as fears of a full-blown Sino-US trade war receded ahead of a flurry of Chinese economic data in the coming weeks, Reuters reported. The Hang Seng index rose 0.2%, to 29,994.26 while the China Enterprises Index gained 0.6% to 11,966.41.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.03% to 22,467.16, China’s Shanghai Index jumped 1.48% to 3,136.64 but Singapore’s STI fell 0.35% to 3,532.86.
The ringgit continued to lose ground against the US dollar, falling 0.13% to 3.9447 but rose 0.05% to the pound sterling at 5.3397 and climbed 0.15% to the euro at 4.7060. It gained 0.12% against the Singapore dollar to 2.9514.
At Bursa, CIMB fell 10 sen to RM6.67 and erased 1.68 points while Maybank lost eight sen to RM10.54 and wiped out 1.57 points. Hong Leong Bank was the top loser among the banks, down 16 sen to RM18.44, Public Bank 10 sen to RM23.70, RHB Bank seven sen to RM5.09 and AmBank three sen lower at RM3.68.
Telekom closed 16 sen lower at RM5, Maxis six sen to RM5.58, Axiata four sen to RM5.11 but Digi edged up two sen to RM4.55.
Genting Bhd
fell 13 sen to RM8.50, Tenga eight sen lower at RM16, IHH five sen to RM5.96 and Genting Malaysia one sen to RM4.99.
Oil prices rose to their highest levels since late-2014 on Monday, boosted by Venezuela’s deepening economic crisis and a looming decision on whether the United States will re-impose sanctions on Iran, Reuters reported.
Brent crude oil futures were at US$75.63 per barrel at 0909 GMT, up 76 cents from their last close. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 80 cents to $70.52 per barrel.
The oil price rally failed to lift the bigger oil and gas stocks. Petronas Dagangan skidded 40 sen to RM26.40, Petronas Gas 18 sen lower at RM17.58 and Petronas Chemical shed a sen to RM8.44.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery jumped RM43 to RM2,383 per tonne. IOI Corp fell five sen to RM4.69, KL Kepong lost 14 sen to RM25.36 and PPB Group four sen lower at RM19.06.
Opcom rose 4.5 sen to 44.5 sen with 2.32 million shares done. Tan Sri Mokhzani Mahathir is the chairman and CEO.
Consumer stocks were among the top losers, Nestle fell 70 sen to RM135.10, BAT 54 sen to RM22.46, Dutch Lady closed 46 sen lower at RM66.50 and Carlsberg 24 sen to RM17.88.
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