KUALA LUMPUR (April 16): The FBM KLCI slipped 0.52% at mid-morning Thursday as profit taking crept in, while global markets declined as Wall Street fell overnight on dour economic data.

At 10am, the FBM KLCI fell 7.15 points to 1,380.64.

Gainers edged losers by 258 to 231, while 328 counters traded unchanged. Trading volume was 1.28 billion shares valued at RM428.89 million.

The top decliners included Nestle (M) Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, Panasonic Manufacturing Malaysia Bhd, Heineken Malaysia Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, ViTrox Corp Bhd, KESM Industries Bhd, Westports Holdings Bhd and Sarawak Oil Palms Bhd.

The actives included Lambo Group Bhd, Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd, NetX Holdings Bhd, Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd, Hubline Bhd, Bumi Armada Bhd, mTouche Technology Bhd and XOX Bhd.

The gainers included Ajinomoto (M) Bhd, Serba Dinamik, Bursa Malaysia Bhd, Pentamaster Corp Bhd and Hong Leong Industries Bhd.

Reuters said world stock markets fell on Thursday, while bonds and the US dollar held on to hefty gains, after a coronavirus-driven plunge in US retail sales and factory production and increasing gloomy economic outlooks for Asia.

US retail sales fell the most on record last month, while manufacturing output fell by the most in 74 years, raising fears of a deep recession, it said.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd said Wall Street retreated yesterday as the bleak economic data and earnings began to sink in.

“US Covid-19 cases surpassed 600,000 with deaths closing in the 30,000 mark and yet Donald Trump is thinking that the pandemic has peaked in the US. We can expect a weaker regional undertone today following some late selling across the region yesterday.

“FBM KLCI was the last one standing yesterday within the region but we expect profit taking activities to take over today.

“We were rather surprised [about] the FBM KLCI's resilience over the past few days but may see some weaknesses today with the 1,380 as the immediate support,” it said.