Top Glove in focus while KLCI skids on banking turmoil

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI finished lower on Thursday as Credit Suisse crisis renewed fears of a full-blown global banking crisis.

The market bellwether closed down 12.33 points, or 0.88% at 1,391.60. The index fell to an intraday low of 1,391.04.

Market breadth was negative as losers overpowered the gainers on a ratio of 719-to-238 stocks. Traded volumes stood at 3.52 billion valued at RM2.22bil.

Dealers said Credit Suisse crisis provided a new reason to sell risky assets and pile into the safety of government bonds.

Credit Suisse secured a US$54bil lifeline from the Swiss National Bank to shore up liquidity and investor confidence that sent its stock to record lows the day before, Reuters reported.

All indices on Bursa Malaysia, apart from the Bursa Malaysia Healthcare Index, were down.

Bursa Malaysia Healthcare index rose 66.48 points, or 4.11% to 1,683.61.

Top Glove Corp is among the six most active healthcare counters on Bursa Malaysia. The counter jumped 13.5 sen, or 19.29% to 83.5 sen with 184.96 million shares traded.

The world's largest glove maker posted a net loss of RM164.7mil, or loss per share of 2.06 sen from a net profit of RM87.5mil a year ago, or earning per share of 1.09 sen.

Among the gainers, Hong Leong Financial Group jumped 26 sen to RM18, Hartalega rose 21 sen to RM1.55, AirAsia X added 13 sen to RM1.41 and ViTrox climbed 12 sen to RM7.58.

Nestle shed 80 sen to RM134, F&N fell 60 sen to RM25.20, Hextar Technologies lost 50 sen to RM24.18 and Malaysian Pacific Industries slid 44 sen to RM28.30.

Among the banks, Maybank declined nine sen to RM8.26, Public Bank eased two sen to RM3.93, CIMB fell eight sen to RM5.15, RHB Bank shed four sen to RM5.49, AmBank lost eight sen to RM3.63 and Hong Leong Bank slid 10 sen to RM19.90.

Elsewhere in the region, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.8%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed down 1.72%, South Korea’s Kospi declined 0.76%, China’s CSI 300 lost 1.2% and Singapore’s Straits Times Index shed 0.55%.