KUALA LUMPUR (July 20): The FBM KLCI fell 0.42% at mid-morning today, weighed by losses at select index-linked blue chips, including Tenaga Nasional Bhd and Genting Bhd.
At 10am, the FBM KLCI fell 7.28 points to 1,751.96.
Losers led gainers by 387 to 194, while 282 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 707.71 million shares valued at RM419.77 million.
The top losers included Nestle (M) Bhd, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, KESM Industries Bhd, Ajinomoto (M) Bhd, Tenaga, Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd, Hengyuan Refining Company Bhd, Genting and Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd.
The actives included Nova MSC Bhd, My E.G. Services Bhd, Iskandar Waterfront City Bhd, Sapura Energy Bhd, Ekovest Bhd, Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd and Scomi Group Bhd.
The top gainers included Nova, LPI Capital Bhd, Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd, Panasonic Manufacturing Malaysia Bhd, Tasek Corp Bhd, Yinson Holdings Bhd and United Plantations Bhd.
Asian stocks eked out modest gains on Friday as investor caution prevailed amid concerns about the European Union imposing retaliatory tariffs on US goods while US President Donald Trump's criticism of Federal Reserve policy knocked the US dollar, according to Reuters.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan inched up 0.1%. JF Apex Securities Research in a market preview said US markets declined overnight following losses in financial counters after President Trump criticised the Federal Reserve for raising interest rates, it said.
Hong Leong IB Research in a traders' brief said the near-term positive outlook on Dow would sustain on the back of ongoing strong reporting seasons, coupled with the upbeat economic picture.
Nevertheless, it said market may turn choppy again unless upcoming trade discussions between the US and its major trading partners are showing significant progress prior to the mid-term congressional elections in November.
"Key resistances are set at 25,500-25,800 while supports fall on 24,600-28,000 territory.
"Positive expectations of Economic Affairs Minister's visit to Singapore (end-July) and Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's China visit (mid-August) could provide further rerating catalysts to our market in the mid to long term, supported by bullish weekly indicators.
"However, the overnight retreat in Dow and a resumption of foreign selling yesterday amounted to RM90 million (after a surprise +RM70 million on July 18) could trigger a long overdue pullback, given the deeply overbought slow stochastic reading and ahead of the August reporting season," it said.