Genting slumped 15 sen to RM6.80 and erased 1.01 points while GentingM was down three sen to RM3.25 following the recent corporate news which were viewed as negative by investors.
KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips eked out some gains to close at Thursday's high, aided by some nibbling on telcos and banks despite the weaker-than-expected trade data for February, as sentiment was given a slight boost by the key Asian markets.
At 5pm, the KLCI was up 1.86 points or 0.11% to 1,645.07. Turnover was 3.18 billion shares valued at RM2.13bil. There were 437 gainers, 397 losers and 412 counters unchanged.
Malaysia's exports fell 5.3% in February to RM66.60bil, the lowest value since August 2016 due to a contraction in the exports of manufactured goods and petroleum products. The 5.3% decline was a stark contrast with a Bloomberg survey of an increase of a 2.3%.
Key Asian markets were mostly higher. Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.05% but Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 0.17% while the CSI 300 gained 1% and Shanghai Composite 0.94% and Singapore's STI advanced 0.15%.
Emerging market shares retreated from near eight month highs, and developing market currencies mostly weakened against a soft dollar as markets await more concrete evidence of progress in US-China trade talks, Reuters reported.
MSCI's index of emerging market shares fell 0.2%, breaking a five-day winning streak that was supported by receding fears of a global economic slowdown and positive news from trade negotiations between the world's two largest economies.
At Bursa, Maxis rose 11 sen to RM5.60 and provided a 1.49 point lift to the KLCI. Digi added five sen to RM4.69 and Axiata four sen to RM4.18.
Power giant Tenaga Nasional ended 10 sen higher at RM12.64 and pushed the KLCI up nearly one point.
As for banks, HL Bank rose 16 sen to RM20.20, Maybank three sen to RM9.27, RHB Bank was flat at RM5.75, AmBank shed one sen to RM4.45 while Public Bank and CIMB two sen lower at RM22.98 and RM5.10.
US light crude oil fell 31 cents to US$62.15 while Brent dropped 40 cents to US$68.91 and they weighed on oil and gas stocks except for Petronas Chemical which edged up two sen to RM9.10, Dialog one sen to RM3.20, Petronas Dagangan was flat at RM25 while Petronas Gas shed two sen to RM17.52.
Genting slumped 15 sen to RM6.80 and erased 1.01 points while GentingM was down three sen to RM3.25 following the recent corporate news which were viewed as negative by investors.
Consumer stocks were the top losers with Nestle down 60 sen to RM145.90, Heineken 38 sen to RM24.64, Carlsberg 34 sen to RM25.96 and BAT 12 sen to RM36.18.
CIMB Equities Research is keeping its Reduce call on BAT due to its rich valuations. Its target price is RM28.51 compared with the last traded price of RM36.28.
KESM lost 20 sen to RM8.20 after CIMB Research retained its Reduce call for the burn-in tester with a lower target price of RM7 from RM7.80 as it sees more risks if the semiconductor demand fails to pick up.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery rose RM33 to RM2,208 per tonne. United Plantations gained 14 sen to RM27.60, KL Kepong added four sen to RM24.80, PPB Group two sen to RM18.52 while Sime Plantation was flat at RM5.05 and IOI Corp lost three sen to RM4.50.
The ringgit weakened 0.09% to the US dollar to 4.0825, shed 0.03% against the pound sterling to 5.3752 and flat at 4.5865 to the euro while it edged up 0.03% against the Singapore dollar to 3.0155.
Win a prize this Mother's Day by subscribing to our annual plan now! T&C applies.
