FBM KLCI falls in midday trading on cautious sentiment

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI remained in the negative territory at midday despite improved sentiment across the region.

At lunch break, the market barometer fell 5.69 points, or 0.39% to 1,451.91, dragged by losses in banking, plantation and PETRONAS-linked stocks.

Sellers led buyers by 453 to 323, while 426 counters traded unchanged. Volume stood at 1.97 billion shares, valued at RM935.4mil.

PETRONAS Chemicals fell 13 sen to RM7.18, PETRONAS Dagangan declined four sen to RM22.86 and PETRONAS Gas slid four sen to RM16.96.

Kuala Lumpur Kepong and PPB eased 12 sen each to RM14.58 and RM14.58 respectively.

Among the banks, Maybank fell one sen to RM9.11, Public Bank declined two sen to RM4.19, CIMB added one sen to RM5.78, RHB Bank lost one sen to RM5.62 and AmBank fell four sen to RM3.83.

On the broader market, Rapid slid 98 sen to RM26.10, Hextar Technologies gave up 66 sen to RM22.82 and F&N fell 20 sen to RM27.30.

Hwa Tai, the top gainer on Bursa Malaysia, jumped 38.54%, or 18.5 sen to 66.5 sen with 13.11 million shares traded.

Aeon Credit added 16 sen to RM11.70, Apollo Food gained 16 sen to RM5.25 and Hap Seng rose 11 sen to RM4.83.

Rakuten Trade remains positive on the banks as the financial sector should maintain its dominance in supporting the overall corporate earnings growth for this year.

“Thus, we believe some bargain hunting may emerge for the banks anytime soon hence expect the index to hover within the 1,455-1,465 range today.

“Energy-related stocks may face some headwinds from the recent sharp decline in crude oil price that saw the Brent crude retreated to below US$80/barrel,” it said.

Meanwhile, Malacca Securities expects O&G stocks may take a beating, especially within the E&P segment.

“Meanwhile, we expect selected technology stocks may perform well tracking the moves on Nasdaq. Heading into the full-blown reporting season, we favour the construction, property, building material, utilities and consumer sectors,” it said.