Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 22): The FBM KLCI was mired in negative territory at the midday break today, despite the overall positive sentiment at most regional markets after a US publication said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was involved in a corruption inquiry in the US.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI pared some of its loss and was down 2.77 points to 1,636.70. The index had earlier dipped to its intra-morning low of 1,633.09.

The top losers included Nestle (M) Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, RHB Capital Bhd, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, Maxis Bhd, Apollo Food Holdings Bhd, Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd, Lay Hong Bhd, BCB Bhd and Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd.

The actively-traded stocks included AirAsia Bhd, Aemulus Holdings Bhd, AirAsia X Bhd, APFT Bhd, Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd, The Media Shoppe Bhd and Datasonic Group Bhd.

The gainers included TRIplc Bhd, Time DotCom Bhd, MISC Bhd, Genting Bhd, Top Glove Corporation Bhd, PPB Group Bhd, DKSH (M) Holdings Bhd, Texcycle Technologies Bhd and Sime Darby Bhd.

A U.S. federal grand jury is examining allegations of corruption involving Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and individuals close to him, the New York Times reported on Monday (Sept 21), quoting anonymous sources, according to Reuters.

Meanwhile, Asian shares rose on Tuesday and the dollar held steady, as U.S. markets bounced back and the European Central Bank said it was prepared to ease monetary policy further, Reuters said.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.4% at 0240 GMT, with Australia advancing 0.6% and South Korea 0.3%. Japanese markets are shut through Wednesday, Reuters added.

BIMB Securities Research said that in Asia, stocks were mostly flat to weaker, following the overnight slump in the US.

Locally, it said the FBM KLCI was the worst performer within the Asean region, falling by 1.8% or 29.98 points at 1,639.47 yesterday (Sept 21).

“Foreign funds were on a selling mode yesterday, with a net outflow of RM333.9 million.

“We reckon the local bourse to see a slight recovery today, with the 1,645 as the immediate target,” it said.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)

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