KLCI slips into sea of red as global markets retreat

KUALA LUMPUR: Asian markets was a sea of red in the morning session despite paring gains after China announced that it would be holding talks with Washington in late August at the White House's invitation.

The FBM KLCI remained negative after having a low of 1,773.74 in the mid-morning session. At 12.30pm, the index was trading 8.26 points lower at 1,777.68. Trading volume was 1.25 billion shares valued at RM885.38mil. Decliners outpaced advancers 525 to 253, and 371 counters were unchanged.

The 30-stock index was overwhelming negative, with Axiata falling nine sen to RM4.29, Maxis sliding six sen to RM5.68 and Digi dropping six sen to RM4.51.

Bank stocks also took a trim with Maybank edging one sen lower to RM9.78, CIMB slipping two sen to RM5.86, Hong Leong Bank sliding four sen to RM19.14 and RHB falling five sen to RM5.08. Public Bank was unchanged at RM24.48.

IHH lost three sen to RM5.43, MISC fell eight sen to RM5.99 and Genting dropped six sen to RM8.55

Only five counters saw gains in the morning session. Sime Darby Plantation edged up one sen to RM5.19, Nestle rose 50 sen to RM146.60, MAHB gained 13 sen to RM9.27, KLCC Property REIT added 11 sen to RM7.73 and Hartalega put on one sen to RM6.81.

On the broader market, some top gainers were Elsoft, adding 13 sen to RM3.09, JF Technology surging 16 sen to 93 sen and Chin Tek gaining 10 sen to RM7.50

Laggards included Scientex slipping 15 sen to RM8.25, Dutch Lady dropping 12 sen to RM66.72 and New Hoong Fatt falling 12 sen to RM3.

Oil prices moved higher on news that Beijing and Washington will be holding talks to resolve the trade dispute roiling markets. WTI crude added one cent to US$65.02 a barrel while Brent crude gained 22 cents to US$70.98 a barrel.

In currencies, the Turkish lira pulled back 0.74% against the greenback at 5.9907.

The ringgit, however, made some slight advances, gaining 0.15% against the US dollar to 4.0978, 0.01% against the pound sterling at 5.2114 and 0.2% against the Singapore dollar at 2.9798.