KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI slipped for a second straight day on Tuesday, underperforming most Asian markets as selling in plantation and PETRONAS-linked counters outweighed strong gains in technology shares.
The 30-stock index closed 1.92 points lower at 1,720.37, recovering from an intraday low of 1,712.66, with losses in plantation and Petronas-linked stocks capping gains.
There were 597 gainers, 528 losers and 560 counters traded unchanged on the Bursa Malaysia. Turnover stood at 3.53 billion shares valued at RM2.8bil.
Among the decliners, United Plantations slid 86 sen to RM33.74, Kuala Lumpur Kepong fell 44 sen to RM21.14, F&N declined 34 sen to RM28.80 and PETRONAS Gas gave up 22 sen to RM17.40.
Technology and semiconductor stocks led the gainers list on Bursa Malaysia. Malaysian Pacific Industries
surged RM2.18 to RM46.84, MI Technovation jumped RM1.05 to RM5.92, UMS Integration rose 41 sen to RM8.19, Unisem added 37 sen to RM4.85 and Pentamaster climbed 28 sen to RM5.19.
Newly listed Stratus Global surged 163.75%, or RM1.31, to close at RM2.11 on its Bursa Malaysia debut.
The semiconductor automated material handling systems (AMHS) solutions provider emerged as the second-top gainer and was among the most actively traded stocks, with 272.07 million shares changing hands.
Stock market data showed foreign funds and retail investors were net sellers on Monday, offloading RM18mil and RM13mil worth of equities, respectively.
Local institutions, meanwhile, were net buyers, purchasing a net RM31mil worth of shares.
Meanwhile, the ringgit rose 0.07% against the US dollar to 4.0895, but edged down 0.02% against the Singapore dollar to 3.1707.
The local currency climbed 0.16% against the euro to 4.6700 and edged 0.21% higher against the pound sterling at 5.4981.
Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index rose 2.43%, with most regional bourses ending higher.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rallied 3.26% to close at 66,232.19 while South Korea’s Kospi advanced 3.56% to 6,747.95.
China's blue-chip CSI300 Index gained 3.06% to 4,739.23, while the Shanghai Composite Index closed up 1.79% at 3,864.37.
Hong Kong benchmark Hang Seng was down a marginal 0.04% to 25,132.29.
