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KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia was the only market in Asia to close in the red on Tuesday, dragged down by political concerns and the challenges of Covid-19, forcing investors to remain cautious.
Most banks were higher, except Maybank, Hong Leong and RHB Bank, after Bank Negara kept the official overnight interest rate (OPR) unchanged at 1.75%, for the second time in a row, online with consensus.
OCBC Treasury Research said that while the risk of a cut had obviously increased, not decreased, recently due to increased challenges from the pandemic and political wrangling, it was not enough to tip the balance.
“Bank Negara still appears to sound relatively optimistic about growth prospects, signaling a significant improvement in economic activity. Still, he continued to warn of downside risks to growth, mostly due to pandemic outbreaks, “he said.
At 5 p.m., the FBM KLCI was down 5.01 points or 0.34% to 1,461.45, which was the lowest since the May 28 close of 1,457.
The turnover was 6.44 billion shares valued at RM3.30bil. The overall market was firmer with 669 winners, 384 losers and 399 counterattacks unchanged.
The ringgit weakened at the end of the session, falling 0.02% against the US dollar at 4.1580.
Plantation stocks were among the main losers despite the rebound in crude palm oil (CPO) prices. Crude palm oil for 3rd month delivery rose RM 91 to RM 3,066 per tonne.
PPB Group fell 14 sen to RM18.36 and KL Kepong 12 sen to RM21.68, Sime Plantation two sen to RM4.86 while IOI Corp was unchanged at RM4.34.
Among banks, Public Bank rose four sen to RM14.96 and CIMB added five sen to RM2.95 while Maybank fell one sen to RM7, Hong Leong Bank lost six sen to RM14.72 and RHB Bank nine sen to RM4 . 24.
In terms of consumer stocks, Nestlé fell the most, 80 sen to RM139, Dutch Lady
18 sen to RM34.20 but Carlsberg rose 44 sen to RM18.70 and Ajinomoto 24 sen to RM14.52.
Sime Darby lost 13 sen at RM2.35, Tenaga five sen at RM9.55, Genting three sen at RM2.95 and GentingM unchanged at RM2.
Top Glove fell seven sen to RM8.32 and erased 0.87 of a point from the KLCI as Hartalega it finished eight sen lower at RM17.76 and erased 0.42 points. Kossan fell 15 sen to RM7.15. Mah Sing, who is making his foray into gloves, was up seven sen to 95 sen in active trading.
A rebound in crude oil prices boosted energy stocks. US light crude rose 76 cents to $ 37.57 and Brent 66 cents to $ 39.63.
Petronas Dagangan won the most, 48 sen at 17.58 and Petronas Gas six sen at RM 15.86 but Petronas Chemicals lost four sen at RM 5.92. Dialogue rose two sen to RM3.62.
Semicon and technology related stocks mixed with the MPI rising 38 sen to RM21.86, Unisem was up eight sen to RM5.50 but Greatec fell 17 sen to RM7.85.
There was a pullback in logistics stocks with Nationwide sliding 21.5 sen to 62 sen and GDex
9.5 sen to 39.5 sen.
On the external front, Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 2.14%, South Korea’s Kospi 1.88%, Taiwan’s Taiex 1.15%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index 1, 96%, a Shanghai Composite 1.42% and a Nikkei 225 1.39%.
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