Petronas stocks, Public Bank drag KLCI lower to 1,600

KUALA LUMPUR: Profit taking on Petronas-linked stocks and Public Bank weighed on market sentiment and dragged the key FBM KLCI towards the critical 1,600 level early Wednesday.

At 9.23am, the KLCI was down 6.39 points or 0.4% to 1,600.35. Turnover was 339.32 million shares valued at RM142.78mil. There were 125 gainers, 193 losers and 246 counters unchanged.

Foreign funds were net sellers on Tuesday at RM22mil while local institutions were net buyers at RM19.5mil and retail investors RM2.5mil.

Reuters reported Asian shares were little changed as investors awaited new developments toward scaling back a bruising US-China trade war.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was unchanged. Australian shares were up 0.14%, while Japan’s Nikkei stock index rose 0.35%.

At Bursa, Petronas Chemicals fell 11 sen to RM7.59 and Petronas Gas eight sen to RM16.54. Hengyuan was down seven sen to RM4.43.

HLFG fell 20 sen to RM17.02 and Public Bank lost 10 sen to RM19.76.

Glove makers also slipped with Hartalega down eight sen to RM5.39 and Top Glove seven sen to RM4.43.

Westports lost seven sen to RM4.28. AllianceDBS Research expects stronger Westports to record stronger earnings in 4Q FY19 as it is typically a seasonally strong quarter.

Velesto was the most active with 43.9 million shares done, up 1.5 sen to 37.5 sen. KNM added one sen to 46 sen while SAPURA ENERGY gained 0.5 sen to 27 sen.

Nestle was the top loser, down 40 sen to RM146 but F&N was the top gainer, up 22 sen to RM35.28 after its st4rong results.

ChinTek added eight sen to RM6.52 while PJ Bumi, PPB Group, Sunway REIT and MAHB added six sen each to 30 sen, RM18.26, RM1.89 and RM8.10 respectively.

Source: TheStar