KUALA LUMPUR: Selling pressure picked up pace in late Thursday trade, with Maybank, CIMB, IHH Healthcare and Genting Malaysia among the major decliners, while the ringgit continued to lose ground against the major currencies.
The selling was mainly due to foreign funds which were net sellers at RM360mil while local institutions were net buyers at RM311mil and retail investors net buyers also at RM49mil.
At 5pm, the KLCI was down 19.53 points or 1.16% to 1,666.98. Turnover was 2.16 billion shares valued at RM2.28bil. There were 393 gainers, 511 losers and 292 counters unchanged.
Key regional markets were mixed as investors were cautious a day after the US Federal Reserve hinted a rate hike was possible by year-end, fuelling more foreign selling in emerging stockmarkets, wire reports said.
The ringgit weakened to 4.2990 to the US dollar and was at 6.5618 to the pound sterling and 3.0628 to the Singapore dollar.
The depreciation of the ringgit had impacted Tenaga Nasional’s financial results for the fourth quarter ended Aug 31, 2015. Its earnings fell nearly 40% to RM820.90mil from RM1.356bil a year ago. The weaker earnings were due to forex translation loss of RM733.50mil and transaction loss of RM25.90mil
Tenaga closed down eight sen to RM12.66 and erased 0.77 of a point from the KLCI.
Maybank fell 16 sen to RM8.31 and wiped out 2.62 points from the KLCI while CIMB was down 15 sen to RM4.69 and erased 2.19 points. RHB Cap lost 12 sen to RM6.11, AmBank 11 sen to RM4.76 while Public Bank ended the day down 10 sen to RM18.08.
US light crude oil fell 42 cents to US$45.52 and Brent was down 58 cents to US$48.47. Petronas Dagangan lost 26 sen to RM22.50, Petronas Chemicals fell 10 sen to RM6.27 and Petronas Gas eight sen to RM23.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery was up RM24 to RM2,365. KL Kepong fell 14 sen to RM22.98, Sime Darby lost 12 sen to RM8.48, PPB Group eight sen to RM15.72 and IOI Corp seven sen to RM4.26.
Genting Malaysia lost 18 sen to RM4.24 and Genting Bhd 13 sen to RM7.35. IHH was down 14 sen to RM6.25.
Among the telcos, Axiata edged up one sen to RM6.16, TM and DiGi fell four sen to RM6.70 and RM5.23.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.17% to 18,935.71;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index lost 0.6% to 22,819.94;
Shanghai’s Composite Index rose 0.36% to 3,387.32;
Taiwan’s Taiex fell 1.1% to 8,571.08;
South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.41% to 2,034.16;
Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 1.28% to 3,001.51; and
Jakarta's Composite Index slid 2.97% to 4,472.02.
Spot gold rose US$3.90 to US$1,160.
Source: http://www.thestar.com.my/Business/Business-News/2015/10/29/KLCI-closes-nearly-20-points-down/?style=biz
