Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips in Malaysia and Singapore retreated at the midday break on May 6 on concerns that Bank of America needs US$34 billion in fresh capital.

The ringgit had weakened to RM3.5427 against the US dollar from RM3.5080 yesterday.

At 12.30pm, the KL Composite Index fell 3.36 points or 0.33% to 1,00.51. Turnover was 1.07 billion shares valued at RM754.61 million. The breadth of the market was still firm with advancers beating decliners 337 to 193 while 201 stocks were unchanged.

Among key Asian markets, Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.16% to 2,070.96 but Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.2% to 16,465.4 and Shanghai’s Composite Index gained 0.99% to 2,592.85.

Light crude oil was unchanged at US$53.84 while crude palm oil futures rose RM19 to RM2.589.

Reuters reported that news Bank of America needed US$34 billion in fresh capital sent shivers through investors ahead of official results of stress tests on U.S. banks due for release on May 7 in the US.

It added US S&P 500 futures were down 1%, indicating a lower market open later in the day on Wall Street, after a source familiar with the government test results on 19 banks told Reuters that Bank of America has been deemed to have additional capital needs worth nearly half its current market cap of US$69.4 billion.

At Bursa Malaysia, BAT fell the most, down RM1 to RM43, Nestle 50 sen to RM29 while Yee Lee gave up 21 sen to RM1.09, IJM 20 sen to RM5.15 and EON Cap 12 sen to RM3.84.

Kulim fell 30 sen to RM5.80, KL Kepong 30 sen to RM11.20 and Kulim-WB 14 sen to RM3.38 but United Plantations rose 10 sen to RM10.80.

KNM was the most active with 61.34 million shares done, up 1.5 sen to 70 sen. Penny stocks SAAG rose two sen to 29 sen, Equine 4.5 sen to 50 sen and KUB four sen to 49 sen.

Glove makers were among the gainers, Top Glove rose the most, adding 15 sen to RM5.90 and Hartalega 10 sen to RM3.32. YLI added 12.5 sen to 97 sen, Ipmuda 12 sen to 87 sen and Public Bank 10 sen to RM8.60.
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