KLCI slips on US Fed minutes, MRCB-GKent in the spotlight

KUALA LUMPUR: Global equities showed mixed results early Thursday following a decline on Wall Street and minutes from the US Federal Reserve meeting that showed policymakers were looking towards more interest rate hikes. 

Chinese markets, however, performed positively as the US administration refrained from naming the country as a currency manipulator in its semi-annual currency report.

Bursa Malaysia slid in the early morning session with the benchmark FBM KCI weighing by 2.36 points at 1,738.23. Turnover was 51.64 million shares traded valued at RM28.6mil. There were 80 gainers versus 67 decliners and 128 counters unchanged.

MRCB was the most actively traded stock in the early morning session following news that the LRT3 project was set to resume. The stock jumped over 10% in the previous session. At 9.05am on Thursday, it pared gains, descending 1.5 sen to 78.5 sen. 

George Kent, the other half of the joint venture named as project delivery partner of the LRT3 project, climbed six sen to RM1.20.

Glove manufacturers topped the list of gainers on the market. Kossan rose 14 sen to RM4.52 while Supermax gained 10 sen to RM3.11.

KLCI-linked Hartalega however was one of the leading decliners, sliding 10 sen to RM6.33. Top Glove descended six sen to RM11.44.

Merge continued to push ahead, rising another five sen to 86 sen on news that its major shareholder and directors have been approached for a stake sale.

Among other counters seeing strong price action, Press Metal gained seven sen to RM4.70, Petronas Chemicals rose five sen to RM9.49 and Gamuda slid seven sen to RM2.35.

Oil prices rebounded on Thursday following a steep 3% drop in the previous session as US crude inventories were showed to jump. WTI curde rose 17 cents to US$69.92 a barrel while Brent crude climbed 23 cents to US$80.28 a barrel.