KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI finished lower on Tuesday, giving up an early gain as Maybank, CelcomDigi, and PETRONAS Chemicals weighed on the index.
At closing, the market barometer shed 1.54 points, or 0.09% to 1,676.65. The market traded within a range of 10.2 points between an intra-day high of 1,684.06 and a low of 1,673.86 during the session.
Gainers and decliners were closely balanced, with 502 gainers against 518 losers and 528 that were flat. Turnover stood at 2.98 billion shares valued at RM2.94bil.
According to data on Bursa Malaysia, foreign investors continued to buy into local stocks on Monday, acquiring RM57mil worth of equities.
Local institutions and retailers sold equities worth RM38mil and RM19mil respectively.
Maybank eased six sen to RM10.70, dragging the index lower by 1.0547 points. CelcomDigi lost 10 sen to RM3.72 nudging the index 1.7089 points lower. PETRONAS Chemicals slid 13 sen to RM5.60, pushing the index 1.5150 points lower.
On the other hand, Tenaga Nasional rose 34 sen to RM14.90, contributing 2.8790 points to the index.
On the broader market, Malaysian Pacific Industries
eased 42 sen to RM29.38, Bintulu Port fell 20 sen to RM6.20 and Central Global lost 17 sen to 89 sen.
Among the gainers, Nestle jumped RM1.80 to RM105.40, Ajinomoto rose 52 sen to RM15.02, Go Hub Capital added 25 sen to RM1.48 and Riverview Rubber Estates gained 18 sen to RM3.18.
Vetece, the most active counter on Bursa Malaysia surged 33.71%, or 15 sen to 59.5 sen with 83.68 million shares done.
On the forex market, the ringgit was down 0.23% against the greenback to 4.3675.
The local currency has depreciated by 0.05% against the pound sterling at 5.7273 and down 0.09% against the Singapore dollar at 3.3374.
Elsewhere in the region, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.04%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 0.23%, South Korea’s Kospi closed down 0.61% and China’s CSI300 Index closed up 0.26%.
