KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips fell for the third straight day on Wednesday with the FBM KLCI further into the red, dragged down by losses in banks and Tenaga Nasional, in line with weaker key Asian markets.
At 9.35am, the KLCI was down 5.15 points or 0.31% to 1,682.42. Turnover was 189.65 million shares valued at RM189.65mil. There were 154 gainers, 241 losers and 181 counters unchanged.
Asian shares edged lower as investors fretted about slowing global growth with crude oil prices sinking on worries about weakening world demand and oversupply, Reuters reported.
On the technical outlook for the KLCI, Kenanga Research said it was bearish despite gains made over the past two weeks.
“The index is seemingly resuming its downtrend that started in October. From here, immediate support levels to watch for are 1,680 (S1) and 1,650 (S2) where a break below is deemed highly negative.
“Should market sentiment continues to improve, key levels of resistances to look for are at 1,740 (R1) and 1,760 (R2),” it said.
US crude futures dived 7% the previous day, suffering their biggest one-day loss in more than three years. The contracts last stood at US$55.72 per barrel following a descent to US$54.75 overnight, their lowest since November 2017.
At Bursa, oil stocks fell with Petronas Gas down 30 sen to RM18.44, Petronas Chemical 10 sen to RM9.44 and Dialog eight sen to RM3.19. However, Petronas Dagangan rose 24 sen to RM26.84.
BAT lost 24 sen to RM36.76 and Carlsberg 22 sen to RM19.18 but Nestle rose 90 sen to RM144.50.
Public Bank fell 12 sen to RM24.52 and Hong Leong Bank 10 sen to RM20.44.
Suremetric dipped one sen to 52.5 sen with 37 million shares done. It surged on its trading debut on Tuesday.
Tenaga lost eight sen to RM14.70.
Air Asia jumped 16 sen to RM2.83, Hap Seng added nine sen to RM9.91 and PMB Tech eight sen to RM3.78.
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