Bursa loses early lead as Russia-Ukraine negotiations yield little progress

KUALA LUMPUR: After a hopeful start, Bursa Malaysia succumbed to profit-taking pressure to enter the lunch break in negative territory.

The FBM KLCI lost a slim lead in early trading to enter midday 5.51 points lower at 1,585.27 as investors turned cautious over stalled peace talks between Russia and Ukraine and cashed out of the strong rally over the previous two sessions.

The performance among blue chips was mixed, suggesting that there remained some bullish sentiment on the market following the strong rebound seen in the US market overnight.

Leading laggards in morning trade included CIMB down 11 sen to RM5.37, IHH falling eight sen to RM6.31 and Public Bank shedding three sen to RM4.60.

Plantations however remained firm with Kuala Lumpur Kepong rising 78 sen to RM25.78 and Sime Darby Plantation climbing nine sen to RM4.99.

Press Metal was also up seven sen to RM6.41.

On the broader market brewers and consumer stocks were seen rallying, led by Heineken Malaysia up 90 sen to RM22.90, F&N gaining 76 sne to RM21.40 and Carlsberg rising 40 sen to RM20.38.

Top actives were XIX up 0.5 sen to 2.5 sen, AT rising 0.5 sen to 2.5 sen and Widad unchanged at 35 sen.

In Asian markets, gains were subdued as peace talks between Russia and Ukraine stalled and oil futures returned to a rally.

Japan's Nikkei rose 0.3%, South Korea's Kospi gained 0.1% while China's composite index fell 0.2%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng plunged 2.4% in another volatile session as Tencent fell more than 4% even as US President Joe Biden and Chinese president Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet over several key issues later today.

Meanwhile, Australia's ASX200 rose 0.4%.