FBM KLCI ends at intra-day low in line with regional retreat

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI ended lower on Wednesday in line with the performance of its regional peers following the overnight loss on Wall Street.

The benchmark index ended down 10.99 points, or 0.68% to 1,596.58, its intraday low. The index opened 2.70 points higher at 1,604.87 this morning.

In the broader market, there were 509 gainers with 551 losers and 443 counters unchanged. Turnover stood at 8.68 billion shares worth RM4.39bil.

Dealers said the local bourse tracked the performance of key Asian markets, amid the lack of follow-through buying interest. They added that the overnight losses on Wall Street weighed on regional markets.

China’s Shanghai Composite index closed flat at 3,472.93, while the blue-chip CSI300 index was up 0.3%.

South Korea’s Kospi closed down 49.04 points, or 1.52%, at 3,171.66 while Japan’s Nikkei 255 tumbled 2.03% to close at 28,508.55.

In today's session, KLCI-component stocks were overwhelmingly in the negative, with 25 decliners, three gainers and two closed unchanged.

All three index-linked glove stocks ended higher today. Hartalega added 25 sen to RM10.12, Supermax rose 14 sen to RM5.54 and Top Glove climbed five sen to RM5.45.

Top losers among index-linked stocks included Nestle, KLK, Petronas Dagangan and Axiata.

Nestle tumbled 90 sen to RM135.50, KLK shed 42 sen to RM21.52, PetDag fell 26 sen to RM19.84 and Axiata declined 19 sen to RM3.81.

On the broader market, Transocean continued its uptrend, adding 59 sen to RM2.57, Dataprep rose 57 sen to RM2.57, MSM gained 22 sen to RM1.64 and Pineapple Resources climbed 21 sen to 84 sen.

F&N fell 78 sen to RM30, Rapid fell 38 sen to RM7.92 and MPI shed 32 sen to RM38.38.