KUALA LUMPUR: Late selling erased earlier gains, with the FBM KLCI ending at its intraday low on Monday despite record highs in key regional markets.
The FBM KLCI fell 3.07 points, or 0.18%, to close at its intraday low of 1,717.27, after hitting a high of 1,731.79.
In the broader market, gainers and decliners were nearly balanced, with 579 gainers against 599 decliners, while 617 counters remained unchanged. Turnover came to 3.74 billion shares valued at RM3.3bil.
Telekom Malaysia emerged as the top gainer, rising 48 sen to RM7.58 after lifting its dividend policy to a minimum 75% payout of PATAMI.
Other gainers included F&N, up 38 sen to RM30.68, Press Metal
, which added 38 sen to RM8.80, and Inari, rising 24 sen to RM2.06.
Among decliners, United Plantations fell 70 sen to RM31.62, Hong Leong Bank lost 44 sen to RM22.34, Hong Leong Financial Group dropped 30 sen to RM19, and Heineken Malaysia eased 18 sen to RM23.10.
Padini said Friday some of its bank accounts were frozen by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission in an ongoing money-laundering probe, while Cropmate said early Monday certain accounts of the company and its subsidiaries were also frozen in a related investigation.
Padini fell 11 sen to RM1.44 with 31.8 million shares traded, while Cropmate lost 1.5 sen to 20 sen with 22.68 million shares done.
On the forex front, the ringgit strengthened 0.32% against the US dollar to 3.9525, bringing its year-to-date gain to 2.75%.
It edged down 0.06% against the Singapore dollar to 3.1044.
Meanwhile, Brent crude rose US$2.83, or 2.69%, to US$108.16 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained US$2.45, or 2.6%, to US$96.85 per barrel.
On the external front, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index rose 1.3%, with several markets hitting record highs.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 1.38% to close at a record 60,537.36.
South Korea’s KOSPI also ended at a record high, rising 2.15% to 6,615.03, while Taiwan’s TAIEX gained 1.8% to a fresh peak of 39,616.63.
In China, the CSI 300 Index finished flat at 4,770.95, while the Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.16% to 4,086.34.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index, however, slipped 0.2% to 25,925.65.
