KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI ceded more ground at the start of the week as declines in financial stocks set the local market at odds with most regional peers.
At 12.30pm, the local index was 7.73 points lower at 1,635.90, after failing to extend last Friday's rebound. Trading volume was 1.45 billion shares valued at RM786.87mil. Market breadth managed to stay positive with 367 gainers versus 305 decliners and 376 counters unchanged.
Public Bank was the leading decliner with a 64 sen fall to RM22.52, shaving nearly four points off the index.
Hong Leong Bank followed with a 32 sen drop to RM19.98. Maybank experienced a milder decrease, slipping four sen to RM9.23 while CIMB also shaved four sen to RM5.11.
Plantations counters were mostly positive with KL Kepong gaining eight sen to RM24.88, IOI rising two sen to RM4.48 and PPB adding eight sen to RM18.40.
Similarly, telcos rose with Digi climbing six sen to RM4.61, Maxis adding two sen to RM5.38 and Axiata trading unchanged at RM4.15.
Counters seeing high investor activity were topped by KTB in the morning session. The stock rose as much as 11.5 sen or 135% in morning trade to 19.5 sen, before ending a 17.5 sen at midday break.
Major shareholder Tan Sri Mohd Nadzmi Mohd Salleh responded to a query by journalists that he was unaware of anything that might have contributed to the massive spike in share price.
Meanwhile GETS continued to pile on the gains with a 3.5 sen increase to 37 sen.
Rounding out the top three most active counters of the morning, Bumi Armada
was unchanged at 19 sen.
The fall in the FBM KLCI went against the grain of the regional trend as most Asian markets surged on the news that China's manufacturing activity grew for the first time in four months in March.
The Shanghai Composite Index rose 2.3% as fears of China's slowing economy eased while the blue-chip CSI300 also grew 2.3%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index advanced 1.6% while Japan's Nikkei Index gained 1.5% and South Korea's Kospi Index climbed 1.2%.
Oil markets showed expectations of improved demand as the price of US crude gained 37 cents to US$60.51 a barrel and Brent crude lifted 55 cents to US$68.13 a barrel.
The ringgit rose 0.1% against the slidng greenback at 4.0773 and was little changed against the pound sterling at 5.3172 and Singapore dollar at 3.0124.
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