KUALA LUMPUR: After a tentative start, stocks fell in early Thursday trade with AirAsia down in active trade after its larger-than-expected Q4 losses while sentiment was also cautious due to the mostly uninspiring corporate results.
At 9.27am, the FBM KLCI was down 1.33 points or 0.08% to 1,712.12. Turnover was 378.70 million shares valued at RM214.30. There were 168 gainers, 282 losers and 218 counters unchanged.
AirAsia fell 22 sen to RM2.82 with 16.88 million shares done. CIMB Equities Research retains Reduce for AirAsia Group with an unchanged target price of RM1.82 after it reported a RM369mil core net loss for 4Q18, its largest-ever quarterly loss, which dragged down FY18 core net profit to only RM166m, down 87% on-year.
Panasonic was the top loser, down 52 sen to RM37.60, Tong Herr fell 40 sen to RM3.63 and Hengyuan 25 sen to RM5.73. Pos Malaysia lost 13 sen to RM1.98 after posting losses.
Consumer stocks were higher led by Nestle, up 40 sen to RM148.90 with just 100 shares done, BAT added 28 sen to RM33.78 and Heineken gained 22 sen to RM22.80 but Carlsberg lost 28 sen to RM24.52 on profit taking.
IHH jumped 16 sen to RM5.82 on stronger-than-expected earnings while Padini added 14 sen to RM3.65. RHB Bank gained 10 sen to RM5.69 and Genting Bhd
nine sen higher at RM7.41.
Celebrate Merdeka with 50% Off!
T&C applies.
