KLCI steps back 1.42 points as telcos weigh

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI ended the day in negative territory, dragged by losses at index-linked telecommunication stocks.

At 5pm, the 30-stock index closed down 1.42 points, or 0.09% at 1,529.02.

Gainers outpaced losers 584 to 382, while 436 counters were unchanged. About 4.12 billion shares, valued at RM3.16bil, changed hands.

In today’s session, 14 of the KLCI-component stocks closed lower while 15 counters traded higher and one remained unchanged.

Index-linked counters that fell included Hong Leong Bank, which fell 14 sen to RM18.46, Axiata shed 10 sen to RM4, Maxis declined eight sen to RM4.64 and Hong Leong Financial Group lost four sen to RM18.20.

Telekom Malaysia and Digi declined three sen each to RM5.80 and RM4.46 respectively.

Hartalega added 16 sen to RM6.04 and Top Glove gained 14 sen to RM2.81.

On the broader market, SAM Engineering surged RM3.30 to RM17, Genetec jumped RM1.90 to RM35.88 and Opcom rose 29.5 sen to RM1.11.

PMB Technology fell 50 sen to RM11.36, Tafi lost 30 sen to RM2.33 and Kobay dropped 18 sen to RM4.92.

Reuters reported that oil prices climbed more than US$1 after industry data showed U.S. crude stocks fell more than expected last week in the wake of two hurricanes.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 1.5%, to US$71.54 a barrel and Brent crude climbed 1.32%, to US$75.34 a barrel.

Elsewhere in the region, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.67%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.51%, South Korea’s Kospi added 0.33% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.4%.