FBM KLCI slides at midday amid US rate concerns

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI pared some of its losses at midday break but sentiment stayed bearish following the hawkish comments from US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI ended down 4.9 points, or 0.34% at 1,447.37. The index earlier slipped to its intra-morning low of 1,445.21.

Market breadth was negative as losers overpowered the gainers on a ratio of 505-to-247 stocks. Traded volumes stood at 2.02 billion shares worth RM829.3mil.

Malacca Securities said following the hawkish comments from the Fed’s chair, Wall Street ended softer for the session and expected some selling interest to spillover towards the local stock exchange.

“Hence, upside may be limited for the FBM KLCI for the near term. However, we believe the traders could shift their attention to the ongoing reporting season and look for opportunities on stocks with better growth prospects,” it said.

On the commodity markets, the Brent oil prices stayed below the US$80 per barrel market, while the crude palm oil traded around RM3,750 zone.

“Following the release of better results from Swift and Westports, we believe the trading interest may build up within the transportation and logistics sector.

“Meanwhile, we expect selected O&G stock to decline for the near term, amid softer crude oil prices. Heading into the reporting season, we favour the construction, property, building material, utilities and consumer sectors, especially the poultry segment,” Malacca Securities said.

Rakuten Trade remains adamant that bargain hunting activities will emerge anytime soon.

“A check on the corporate results out so far indicates that all is well thus we expect the index to trend within the 1,450-1,460 range today,” it said.

Among the losers, Rapid tumbled RM1.30 to RM25.40, Malaysian Pacific Industries fell 24 sen to RM26.70, Heineken eased 20 sen to RM23.66 and PETRONAS Dagangan declined 14 sen to RM22.74.

HeiTech Padu, the top gainer on Bursa Malaysia jumped 35%, or 24.5 sen to 94.5 sen with six million shares traded.

New Hoong Fatt rose 21 sen to RM3.44, KESM added 14 sen to RM7.14 and Westports gained 11 sen to RM3.49.