Foreign funds batter Bursa, send KLCI into tail spin

KUALA LUMPUR: Sustained foreign selling on Bursa Malaysia sent the FBM KLCI into a tail spin early Thursday as the 30-stock index fell below the critical 1,800 level with more downside seen.

At 9.19am, the KLCI was down 11.24 points or 0.62% to 1,793.01. Turnover was 250.13 million shares valued at RM207.15mil. There were 117 gainers, 245 losers and 189 counters unchanged.

Kenanga Research said Wednesday’s close saw the KLCI decisively breaking below 1,820 level while momentum indicators appears bearishly-biased.

“From here we expect consolidation in the near term with 1,800 (S1) providing immediate support followed by next support identified at 1,780 (S2). Conversely, resistance can be located at 1,820 (R1) and 1,850 (R2),” it said.

Asian shares moved lower on Thursday as investors fretted about new setbacks in US-China trade talks, but negative sentiment was tempered by US Federal Reserve meeting minutes suggesting it would not raise the tempo at which it increases interest rates, Reuters reported.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat, while Japan's Nikkei stock index was 0.6% lower.

At Bursa, Maybank fell 48 sen to RM10.20, Petronas Gas 38 sen to RM17.30, MAHB 34 sen to RM8.46 while Public Bank was down 22 sen to RM24.88.

MyEG came under fresh battering, slumping 15.5 sen to 76 sen with 37 million shares done.

F&N was the top gainer, up 28 sen to RM37.18, HLBank gained 22 sen to RM19.12, MBM Resources 15 sen to RM2.50 while PPB added eight sen to RM19.98 and Digi six sen higher at RM4.62.

Serba Dinamik added five sen to RM3.33.