KUALA LUMPUR: After the heavy selling in recent days, blue chips staged a mild rebound early Wednesday, shored up by IHH Healthcare, Hong Leong Bank and Petronas Gas but analysts said the technical outlook remains bearish.
At 9.17am, the FBM KLCI was up 6.1 points or 0.37% to 1,641.41. Turnover was 180.13 million shares valued at RM113.02mil. There were 154 gainers, 129 losers and 147 counters unchanged.
Kenanga Research said overall, the technical outlook for the KLCI continues to be bearish with no signs of a potential reversal and the downward momentum seems to be strong.
“From here, we expect the index to trend nearer to its next support at 1,615 (S1) and 1,600 (S2).
“Conversely, any positive change in the macro environment may see the index test its support-turned-resistance of 1,650 (R1) and 1,700 (R2),” it said.
Asian stocks traded mixed following a volatile US session that saw stocks end the day flat and crude oil slump more than 7 percent. Treasuries extended gains and the yen climbed.
Stocks in Japan fared worst as telecom giant SoftBank Corp. fell as much as 10% in its IPO debut. Shares in Australia also slipped while those in South Korea outperformed, Bloomberg reported.
At Bursa, Hong Leong Bank climbed 26 sen to RM20.56, IHH 17 sen to RM5.36 and Petronas Gas 12 sen higher at RM19.40.
Nestle was the top gainer, up RM2.20 to RM147.50 and BAT 36 sen to RM35.
Among plantations, PPB Group gained 26 sen to RM17.06 and KL Kepong 10 sen to RM24.02.
Trans Ocean jumped 11.5 sen to RM1.08. It plans to buy 77.2% equity interest in Swift Haulage Sdn Bhd in a share swap. The transaction will be satisfied via the issuance of new shares in Transocean at an issue price of RM1.50.
Genting Malaysia added six sen to RM2.89 in active trade. VS Industry, which was battered for the past two days, added 2.5 sen to 68 sen.
Weaker crude oil prices saw Petronas Chemical falling nine sen to RM9.06 and Dialog seven sen to RM2.88. Hibiscus continued to decline, down 8.5 sen to 77.5 sen with 19.6 million share done.
Tenaga lost eight sen to RM12.62 in active trade.
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