KLCI slips below 1,550-level as profit-taking continues

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI closed below the 1550-point level on Monday, as profit-taking in selected heavyweights continued to pull the key index lower.

At 5 pm, the benchmark index fell 12.41 points to 1,542.92, its lowest in almost two weeks. The index moved between 1,555.31 and 1,541.07 throughout the day.

Market breadth was negative with losers overwhelming gainers 556 to 337, while 407 counters were unchanged. About 2.58 billion shares, valued at RM2bil, changed hands.

In today’s session, KLCI-component stocks were overwhelmingly in the negative, with 22 losers, five gainers and three closed unchanged.

Dealers said the undertone of the market continued to be weak ahead of the overnight policy rate announcement on Thursday. They anticipate bargain-hunting activities to emerge as investors nibble on beaten down stocks.

On Bursa Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur Kepong was the top loser, sliding 74 sen to RM21.06, followed by Vitrox, which lost 46 sen to RM16.54 and British American Tobacco, which fell 46 sen to RM13.50.

Malaysian Pacific Industries surged RM1.04 to RM42, F&N jumped 72 sen to RM25.50 and Panasonic Manufacturing added 30 sen to RM29.40.

Among the component stocks, Public Bank added two sen to RM4.22, Top Glove climbed one sen to RM2.35, Genting fell two sen to RM4.61, Petronas Gas shed 34 sen to RM16.56 and Maybank lost five sen to RM8.41.

Maybank had earlier announced that a number of its services were currently unavailable.

In a posting on Twitter, the bank listed Maybank2u web, mobile banking services, ATMs, self service terminals, debit card usage and banking at its branches as “temporarily unavailable”.

Elsewhere in the region, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average closed up 0.74%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.68%, South Korea’s Kospi closed down 1.09% and Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 0.18%.