Selling pressure pushes KLCI to the red



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KUALA LUMPUR: Afternoon selling pressure pushed FBM KLCI into the red on Tuesday, dragged down by losses in Petronas-linked equities, while key Asian markets closed mixed.

At the close, the benchmark KLCI closed 7.14 points, or 0.47% lower at 1,510.97. It reached an intraday low of 1,510.69 and a high of 1,520.97. The index opened 0.39 points above 1.518.50 this morning.

The losers defeated the winners 661 to 394, while 428 counters were unchanged. The turnover stood at 11.04 billion shares worth RM5.82bil.

Traders said that the local stock market along with its regional peers were mostly lower along with the weaker performance of Wall Street.

In today’s session, 19 of the KLCI component shares fell, seven rose while the remaining four counters closed unchanged.

Petronas Dagangan (PetDag) contributed the most to the index’s decline, while Press Metal provided the biggest boost to the index.

PetDag lost 98 sen to RM17.90, dragging the index lower by 1.4977 points. Petronas Chemicals fell 11 sen to RM5.89, pushing the index 1.3538 points lower.

Top Glove dropped 12 sen to RM9.48, Nestle dropped RM2.60 to RM139.40, Kuala Lumpur Kepong lost 18 sen to RM21.70.

Press Metal added 25 sen to RM5.57, pushing the index higher by 1.5530 points.

Among banks, Maybank fell two sen to RM7.18, Public Bank fell four sen to M15.80, CIMB fell two sen to RM3.04 and Hong Leong Bank added two sen to 14.98.

Newly listed Aneka Jaringan Holdings Bhd closed four sen, or 12.12% lower at 29 sen with 123.71 million shares traded.

On the external front, the MSCI Asia ex Japan stock index was firmer at 0.36%.

China’s Shanghai Composite Index closed 0.47% higher at 3,328.10, while the top-line CSI300 Index was up 0.8%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 27.28 points or 0.11% to 24,569.54.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.44% to close at 23,567.04, while the Topix overall lost 0.75% to 1,625.74.

South Korea’s Kospi rose 11.67 points, or 0.50%, to 2,358.41 and the Singapore Straits Times Index fell 0.59% to 2,528.64.



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