KUALA LUMPUR: Late selling pressure on power giant Tenaga Nasional again sent the FBM KLCI into the red on Thursday, capping off a disappointing month and hopes of a Chinese New Year rally extinguished.
At 5pm, the KLCI was down 0.58 points or 0.03% to 1,683.53 – down 0.42% year-to-date while other key Asian markets ended the month on a strong note.
Turnover was 2.37 billion shares valued at RM2.41bil. There were 425 gainers, 384 losers and 350 counters unchanged.
Other key Asian markets reported more than 1% increases. The confidence was boosted by the positive Wall Street after the U.S. Federal Reserve pledged to be patient with further interest rate hikes, signalling a potential end to its tightening cycle amid signs of slowing global growth, Reuters reported.
Tenaga fell 24 sen to RM12.90 – the lowest since Dec 21 – and erased 2.39 points from the KLCI.
Maybank fell six sen to RM9.54 and erased 1.16 points, CIMB lost four sen to RM5.62, HL Bank 14 sen to RM20.64, RHB Bank and Public Bank four sen each to RM5.43 and RM24.78 but AmBank gained nine sen to RM4.50.
Glove maker Hartalega
extended its decline, falling 11 sen to RM5.40 while the world's largest glove maker Top Glove shed one sen to RM4.82.
US light crude oil fell six cents to US$54.17 but Brent rallied 21 cents to US$61.86. Petronas Chemical gained 12 sen to RM8.45 and pushed the KLCI up 1.68 points, Petronas Gas added 18 sen to RM18.08 and Petronas Dagangan two sen higher at RM26.38 but Dialog shed a sen to RM3.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery fell RM1 to RM2,302 per tonne. United Plantations fell RM1.10 to RM25.90, Ayer Hitam lost 27 sen to RM4.23, Batu Kawan was down 20 sen to RM17 while Hap Seng Plantations lost 15 sen to RM1.81.
However, the KLCI-linked plantations fared better. KL Kepong rose 30 sen to RM24.68, PPB Group eight sen to RM18.20, Sime Plantation five sen to RM5.17 and IOI Corp four sen to RM4.65.
A firm interest in Digi saw the shares end 10 sen higher at RM4.66 and added 1.36 points to the KLCI, Maxis was up a sen to RM5.75 but Axiata shed three sen to RM4.01.
Sime Darbylost two sen to RM2.24, IHH one sen to RM5.60, but MAHB advanced four sen to RM8.04, Genting three sen to RM6.94, Petrss Metal 18 sen to RM4.31 and Genting Malaysia eight sen to RM3.29.
However, the ringgit was firmer against several key currencies, up 0.27% against the US dollar at 4.0953, up 0.29% against the pound sterligng to 5.3719 and inched up 0.07% to the Singapore dollar at 3.0396 but shed0.13% against the euro to 4.7027.
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