Bears on the prowl on Bursa Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips managed to close off their day's low on Friday on late buying support for several FBM KLCI stocks while key Asian markets were in the red after the fallout from the US political scene.
At 5pm, the KLCI was down 0.09 point or 0.01% to 1,776.22. Turnover declined to 1.45 billion shares valued at RM1.57b. There were 339 gainers, 436 losers and 428 million shares done.
However, the firmer second quarter economic data, where GDP expanded at a faster-than-expected pace of 5.8%, and Fitch Ratings' positive outlook for Malaysia helped shore up investor sentiment.
The ringgit rose 0.15% to the US dollar at 4.2892 and edged up 0.03% to the pound sterling at 5.5361 and eked out a gain of 0.05% to the Singapore dollar at 3.1454. However, it dipped 0.01% to the euro at 5.0384.
Meanwhile, Emerging European stocks fell on Friday over concern raised by attacks in Spain and US economic policy while currencies trod water ahead of the release of Polish economic data, Reuters reported
Spain mounted an anti-terrorism operation on Friday after a suspected Islamist militant drove a van into crowds in Barcelona, killing 13 people, in what police suspect was one of a planned wave of attacks. Its main index, IBEX 35, fell 1.22%.
Asian stock investors also joined a global retreat from riskier assets on doubts about US President Donald Trump's ability to deliver his economic agenda.
US light crude oil rose 15 cents to US$47.24 and Brent added seven cents to US$51.10. Petronas Gas rose 14 sen to RM18.80, Petronas Dagangan added dour sen to RM24 but profit taking on Petronas Chemicals saw it shedding 10 sen to RM7.18 and erasing 1.36 points from the KLCI.
UMW Oil and Gas was the most active, up two sen to 33 sen with 43.99 million shares done
Among the banks, Maybank fell four sen to RM9.66 and wiped out 0.72 of a point, AmBank shed one sen to RM4.70, CIMB was flat at RM6.77, Public Bank and RHB Bank edged up two seneach to RM20.58 and RM4.95 while Hong Leong Bank advanded eight sen to RM15.54.
Genting Bhd
fell five sen to RM9.74 and Genting Malaysia four sen lower at RM6.14 while IHH was down two sen to RM6.01 while Tenaga was flat at RM14.24.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery rose RM22 to RM2,680 per tonne. IOI Corp rose nine sen to RM4.56, PPB Group edged up two sen to RM16.40, KL Kepong was unchanged at RM24.30 and Sime Darby lost two sen to RM9.28.
As for telcos Axiata shed one sen to RM4.84, Maxis was flat at RM5.76, Telekom and Digi added one sen each to RM6.35 and RM4.84.
Tech-related stocks and chip makers were among the top losers. SAM Engineering, which is also involved in aerospace, fell 47 sen to RM7.50, MPI lost 20 sen to RM13.90 while KESM ended 16 sen lower at RM15.04 and Vitrox lost 15 sen to RM4.65.
Hong Leong Industries fell 19 sen to RM9.59 after it swung to a loss of RM104.57mil in the fourth quarter (Q4) ended June 30 after including an impairment provision of RM172mil for its investment in Malaysian Newsprint Industries Sdn Bhd (MNI).
Ipmuda jumped 15.5 sen to 82.5 sen with 71,900 shares done in the absence of any strong leads. Its core business include building materials, heavy steel products and warehousing.
Carlsberg gained 14 sen to RM14.84 after its positive earnings. Net profit in the second quarter climbed 18.6% from a year ago to RM60.9mil, helped by a strong performance by its premium brands.
Tomei jumped 11.5 sen to 70 sen after it reported its second quarter results.
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