KL Kepong, PChem and Tenaga weigh down KLCI

KUALA LUMPUR: Selling of Kuala Lumpur Kepong, Petronas Chemicals and Tenaga Nasional dragged the FBM KLCI deeper into the red early Friday despite a slight bounce in key Asian markets.

At 9.30am, the KLCI was down 4.49 points or 0.29% to 1,559.63. Turnover was 212.18 million shares valued at RM119.42mil. There were 205 gainers, 123 losers and 219 counters unchanged.

Asian stocks edged higher, thanks to gains on Wall Street, but the mood was cautious before a key US job report that could help determine whether the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates further, Reuters reported.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan ticked up 0.16%. Japan’s Nikkei stock index rose 0.04% and Australian shares advanced 0.29%.

US stock futures fell 0.16% in Asia on Friday, though that followed a 0.80% increase in the S&P 500 on Wall Street overnight on hopes that future Fed rate cuts will support corporate profits.

At Bursa on Thursday, foreign funds stepped their selling again to net RM266.50mil while local institutions stepped up to mop up with net buying at RM223.30mil. Retail investors also took the opportunity to pick up battered stocks and were net buyers at RM43.3mil.

KL Kepong fell the most, sliding RM1.54 to RM21.24.

“The recent exit of what might have been a foreign shareholder from KL Kepong is a concern and could pave the way for other foreign funds to follow suit, ” says AmInvestment Bank research.

Petronas Chemicals lost 15 sen to RM7.32, KKB seven sen to RM1.43, Tenaga six sen to RM13.52, Knusford and Pasdec four sen each to 55 sen and 35 sen.

Nestle rose 40 sen to RM144.90, Heineken 38 sen to RM24.24 and Carlsberg 10 sen to RM26.20 in thin trade.

Magni Tech added 10 sen to RM6.84, Tong Herr nine sen to RM2.60, KESM eight sen to RM6.98 while Maxis and Pentamaster seven sen each to RM5.48 and RM4.75.

Source: TheStar