Local equities broadly lower, Genting stocks lead decline

KUALA LUMPUR: Genting Malaysia and Genting weighed heavily on the local benchmark index on Tuesday following news that Twenty-First Century Fox Inc was pulling out of the contract for the construction of the Fox theme park in Genting Highlands.

Announcing its litigation against Fox and Disney Co, top-active Genting Malaysia lost as much as 67 sen before slightly paring losses to end the morning session 53 sen lower at RM3.07. Holding company Genting fell 45 sen to RM6.45.

Most stocks on the FBM KLCI were also on the backfoot as US President Donald Trump poured cold water on a possible resolution to the US-China trade this December. 

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was down 16.19 points to 1,685.80. There were 1.17 billion shares traded valued at RM1.27bil. There were 560 decliners versus 162 advancers and 302 counters unchanged.

Tenaga Nasional fell 12 sen to RM14.74 while Nestle lost RM1.70 to RM145.90 and BAT shaved 66 sen to RM37.18.

On the broader market, Only World Group was also negatively impacted by the cancellation of the Fox theme park, losing 9.5 sen to 52.5 sen.

AmInvestment research downgraded the counter to a hold rating from buy with a lower fair value of 58 sen from 74 sen previously.

Other stocks on the decline were Batu Kawan dropping 26 sen to RM16.54, IJM Plantation sliding 22 sen to RM1.56 and UMS slipping 20 sen to RM2.20.

Oil prices remained shaky despite Brent returning above US$60 a barrel in the previous session as uncertainties over Saudi Arabia's supply strategy weighed

WTI crude slipped 10 cents to US$51.53 a barrel while Brent crude was one cent lower at US$60.47 a barrel.

In currencies, the ringgit fell 0.15% against the US dollar at 4.1932. It rose 0.1% against the pound sterling at 5.3730 and 0.1% against the Singapore dollar at 3.0487.