KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI struggled early Friday as investors were cautious after the heavy selling by foreign funds with almost RM1.9bil exiting Bursa over the past four days but local institutions were quick to buy on dips.
At 9.20am, the KLCI was up 1.48 points or 0.08% to 1,855.92. Turnover was 345.53 million shares valued at RM185.87mil. The broader market was mixed with 194 gainers, 190 losers and 204 counters unchanged.
Kenanga Research said technically, the underlying trend for the KLCI remains positive, with key SMAs still in a “Golden Cross” state, although indicators could also suggest some overhang weakness in the short-term.
“From here, a decisive breakout from its prior high at near 1,900 (R1) will be an affirmative bullish sign. Conversely, keen investors may look to buy on dips at 1,830 (S1) and 1,790 (S2). “ it said.
Foreign funds, which had been sceptical about the new Pakatan Harapan government, had been net sellers on Bursa Malaysia for the past four days. Based on stock market data, net selling had reached nearly RM1.9bil up to Thursday.
On the external front, Asian stocks edged up on Friday as investors kept a cautious watch on developments in US-China trade negotiations, while the dollar was perched near a five-month peak against a basket of currencies thanks to the
benchmark U.S. Treasury yield topping a seven-year high, Reuters reported.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.05% higher. The index was headed for a 1% loss this week.
Japan's Nikkei rose 0.2%, South Korea's KOSPI was up 0.25% and Australian stocks edged up 0.05%.
At Bursa, MyEG and George Kent managed to stage a mild rebound after being battered over the past week and hitting limit down several times.
MyEG rose 8.5 sen to 99 sen with 59.93 million shares done, bringing mild relief for the investors after four days of heavy selling.
George Kent added eight sen to RM1.59 with 8.66 million shares done.
George Kent and MRCB are the project delivery partner for the Light Rail Transit from Bandar Utama to Klang.
Dutch Lady
rose 90 sen to RM70.20 with 300 shares done, Carlsberg gained 88 sen to RM20.50, Ajinomoto and BAT added 20 sen each to RM24 and RM32.90 while Heineken gained 16 sen to RM22.78. Nestle fell RM1.50 to RM140.50.
MAHB rose 23 sen to RM9.03 and provided support to the KLCI.
Refiners Hengyuan rose 37 sen to RM8.65 and Petron 27 sen to RM9.15, riding on the surge in crude oil prices.
Litrak fell 24 sen to RM4.90 on concerns about a restructuring of the toll for highways.
PPB Group fell 18 sen to RM19.62, MPI 15 sen lower at RM8.23 and Kossan 12 sen to RM7.15. DRB-Hicom was down eight sen to RM1.78.
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