Friday 29 Mar 2024
By
main news image

KUALA LUMPUR (March 3): The FBM KLCI fell 0.61% at mid-morning on Monday, in line with most nervous regional markets as the Russia-Ukraine conflict jitters took a toll on investor sentiment.

At 10am, the FBM KLCI lost 11.08 points to 1,824.58.

Markte breadth turned negative with losers leading gainers by 450 to 131, while 226 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 626.6 million shares valued at RM 344.06 million.

The top losers at mid-morning included KLK, Petronas Gas, Mesiniaga, UMW, Petronas Dagangan, MNRB, NCB, Southern Acids, Carlsberg and KLCC.

Minetec was the most actively traded counter with 61.23 million shares done. The stock added half a sen to 18.5 sen.

The other actives included Luster, Daya Materials, Sumatec, Sona Petroleum and Iris Corp.

The gainers included Malaysia Smelting Corp, IJM Plantations, Oriental, DKSH, Amway, Hoover, United Plantations, Golsta and MMHE.

Hwang DBS Vickers Research in a note Monday said Wall Street was mixed last Friday as key US equity bellwethers ended lower between minus 0.3% and plus 0.3%.

Nevertheless, the DJIA Mar futures contract was down sharply this morning to tread at a 136-point discount to the spot rate, suggesting sentiment may be weak when Asian equities resume trading.

“The shaky external vibes could be felt on our local bourse too. The benchmark FBM KLCI may struggle to break past the immediate resistance threshold of 1,840 with its first support line currently seen at 1,825.

“From the last batch of result announcements that came in last Friday, Oriental Holdings (net profit was up 82% year-on-year to RM74 million in the recent quarter) and KNM (as its bottomline reversed from a net loss of RM41 million to a net profit of RM3 million) posted positive performances but TH Heavy (which swung from a net profit of RM6 million to a quarterly net loss of RM18 million) disappointed. Separately, Cuscapi shares could attract attention today after a business daily reported that it is in advanced talks to acquire a China-based technology solutions provider while Mudajaya shares may be under watch too in response to a local press report saying that the construction outfit is a prime beneficiary from the award of a 2,000MW power plant to 1MDB,” it said.

Elsewhere, escalating political tensions in Ukraine pressured Asian stocks on Monday, forcing anxious investors to cut their exposure to riskier assets in favour of traditional safe haven bets such as the Japanese yen and Swiss franc, according to Reuters.

Ukraine mobilised for war on Sunday and Washington threatened to isolate Russia economically, after President Vladimir Putin declared he had the right to invade his neighbour, in the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the Cold War, it said.


      Print
      Text Size
      Share