KLCI drops to key 1,600 on Public Bank, HL Bank losses

KUALA LUMPUR: Key Asian markets fell early Tuesday as worries about the worsening US-China trade war and the fallout on economies while at Bursa Malaysia, profit taking on Public Bank and Hong Leong Bank weighed on the FBM KLCI.

At 9.17am, the KLCI was down 14.66 points or 0.91% to 1,600.39. Turnover was 227.77 million shares valued at RM126.37mil. Decliners hammered advancers more than five to one or 333 losers to 62 gainers while 176 counters were unchanged.

Reuters reported Asian shares fell as fears about a drawn out US-China trade war, protests in Hong Kong and a crash in Argentina’s peso currency drove investors to safe harbours like bonds, gold, and the yen.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.26% while Japan’s Nikkei tumbled 1.28%.

The selling in regional markets came as Wall Street stocks took a beating on Monday, with the S&P 500 losing 1.23%.

On the technical outlook for the KLCI, Kenanga Research said chart-wise, the index is currently trading below its key SMAs after the formation of “Death cross” coupled with uninspiring key momentum indicators.

“Hence we expect the bearish outlook to remain intact. Key support levels can be found at 1,600 (S1) and 1,570 (S2) should the index trend lower. Conversely, overhead resistance levels can be seen at 1,650 (R1) and 1,690 (R2),” it said.

Leong Hup International fell 5.5 sen to 79.5 sen in active trade after its profit warning.

Public Bank lost 30 sen to RM21.22 with 408,600 shares done as the selling was not over yet despite a mild rebound late last week. Hong Leong Bank lost 22 sen to RM17.30 and H:FG 18 sen to RM17.12.

Genting Malaysia fell nine sen to RM3.13 in active trade.

Nestle was the top loser, sliding RM1.10 to RM146.90 while MAHB lost 13 sen to RM8.37, while PPB Group and BAT were down 12 sen each to RM18.64 and RM22.88.

Petronas Gas and Petronas Chemical lost 12 sen each to RM15.96 and RM7.27.

However, Favelle Favco rose nine sen to RM2.78, Kuchai eight sen to RM1.97 and LC Titan seven sen to RM2.70.

Source: TheStar