Genting slumped 15 sen to RM6.80 and erased 1.01 points while GentingM was down three sen to RM3.25 following the recent corporate news which were viewed as negative by investors.
KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI ended a volatile August on a firm note, with the market seeing the re-entry of foreign funds – but still not in a big way – since the May 9 General Election.
For the month, the KLCI is up 1.75% or 31.3 points to end at 1,819.66. However, the 30-stock index is still way off the all-time closing high of 1,895 on April 19.
At 5pm on Thursday, the KLCI was down 0.98 of a point to 1,819.66, tracking the weaker key Asian markets especially China. Turnover was 2.63 billion shares valued at RM2.95bil.
The broader market was weaker as decliners beat advancers more than two to one or 685 to 299 while 350 counters were unchanged. Foreign funds were net buyers at RM48.3mil and retail investors at RM55.6mil. Local institutions were net sellers at RM103.9mil.
Holding back the KLCI's advance were the uninspiring corporate results in the quarter ended June 30.
Banks, consumer stocks, oil and gas companies especially Petronas-linked stocks and Dialog, and selected tech-related stocks were the better performers.
However, most plantations reported poorer set of results due to the drop in crude palm oil (CPO) prices.
Construction stocks were impacted by the new Federal Government's decision to review and also shelve mega infrastructture projects due to the large debts and lop-sided agreements.
Property stocks have also been under the radar due to the tighter loan rules, overhang in the high-end condominiums and oversupply of retail spaces and shopping malls.
The ringgit has weakened against the key currencies. It is down 0.09% against the US dollar to 4.1091 on Thursday while it fell 1.11% against the pound sterling to 5.3454. It was down 0.26% to the euro at 4.8031. It shed 0.08% to the Singapore unit at 3.0074.
Hong Leong Bank was the biggest mover among the KLCI stocks, as its 28 sen gain to RM20.56 pushed the index up 1.08 points.
HLFG gained 42 sen to RM19.62, Public Bank eight sen to RM25.12, RHB Bank and CIMB were flat RM5.409 and RM6.09 while Maybank fell four sen to RM9.96.
Telekom fell 26 sen to RM3.31 and erased 1.74 points from the KLCI after its disappointing results and downgrades by analysts.
Digi rose one sen to RM4.71, Axiata shed one sen to RM4.80 and Maxis lost three sen to RM5.78.
US light crude oil rose 11 cents to RM69.62 and Brent added 20 cents to US$77.34. Profit taking saw Petronas Chemical declining 11 sen to RM9.46 and wiping out 1.56 points from the KLCI, Petronas Gas lost 10 sen to RM18.70 but Petronas Dagangan gained four sen to RM27.20. Dialog rose five sen to RM3.48.
Crude palm oil rose RM31 to RM2,248 per tonne. IOI Corp rose three sen to RM4.52, PPB Group shed two sen to RM16.80 while KL Kepong lost 14 sen to RM24.66.
Sime Plantation rose two sen to RM5.36, Sime Property gained one sen to RM1.26 but Sime Darby shed one sen to RM2.55.
Supermax was the top loser, down 56 sen to RM3.36 with 34.48 million shares done after it was downgraded by analysts.
However, Hartalega
gained 10 sen to RM7.10 and Top Glove lost four sen to RM11.14.
Sapura Energy shed one sen to 34 sen, easing off from the recent selldown following its RM4bil cash call.
Bumi Armada steadied and gained three sen to 55.5 sen, recovering slightly after the recent disappointing results.
However, Hibiscus Petroluem fell 14 sen to 96 sen and it was the most active with 174.82 million shares done.
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