KUALA LUMPUR – By midday on Thursday, the FBM KLCI had recovered from earlier losses due to a lack of catalysts amid Wall Street’s weakness on recession fears.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark index rose 0.10 points to 1,466.94.
The market fell, with decliners outnumbering advancers 532 to 302 and 345 counters unchanged. 1.87 billion shares sold for RM869.1mil.
PETRONAS Chemicals fell 13 sen to RM8.42, PETRONAS Gas fell 10 sen to RM16.50, and Kuala Lumpur Kepong fell six sen to RM21.
Hong Leong Bank rose 12 sen to RM20.46, Tenaga rose 11 sen to RM9.18, and Digi rose seven sen to RM3.82.
Kotra rose 25 sen to RM5.67, Comintel gained 20 sen to 89 sen, Malaysian Pacific Industries fell RM1.32 to RM28.63, and KESM fell 37 sen to RM7.12.
Hong Leong Investment Bank Research said the FBM KLCI will consolidate in the near term as investors await more policy leads from the unity government and weigh external volatility caused by inflation and interest rate jitters.
As long as the index stays above 1,454 or supports the trend line (from 2Y low of 1,373), we believe KLCI could resume its upward momentum after a brief consolidation. It said key supports are at 1,436-1,454 and resistances at 1,482-1,504-1,528.
Rakuten Trade said foreign fund selling had slowed the local bourse.
However, year-end window dressing activities may limit the downside, so we expect the index to trend between 1,460-1,480 today.
Brent crude fell to nearly a year-to-date low of US$77/barrel amid global slowdown concerns.
Rakuten said oil and gas stocks should continue to face headwinds today.
Info source – The Star