KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips closed slightly lower on Tuesday, weighed down by losses in Tenaga Nasional, Petronas-linked stocks and plantations in a very lacklustre performance as worries about the impact of the lockdown on the economy weighed.
The FBM KLCI closed down 1.09 points or 0.07% to 1, 581.37. Turnover was 5.85 billion shares valued at RM3.65bil. There were 508 gainers, 465 losers and 488 counters unchanged.
The ringgit weakned by 0.09% against the US dollar to 4.1175.
At 5pm, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said in a televised address the lockdown during the first phase of the movement control order (MCO) that was enforced since June 1 will be lifted once cases fall below 4, 000 cases a day. The lockdown was extended to June 28.
Muhyiddin also spoke about the National Recovery Plan, and said phase two of the MCO 3.0, which will see the reopening of the economy in phases, will allow 80% workforce capacity in workplaces.
At Bursa, Tenaga Nasional fell 12 sen to RM9.94 and erased 1.05 points from the KLCI. Genting Malaysia shed one sen to RM3 and Genting two sen to RM5.14.
IHH Healthcare rose seven sen to RM5.57 and added 0.94 of a point while MISC gained 12 sen to RM7.01 and nudged the index up 0.82 of a point.
Among the banks, Maybank rose one sen to RM8.20, CIMB three sen to RM4.62 but Hong Leog Bank was down 10 sen to RM18.80 and Public Bank shed two sen to RM4.21.
Crude palm oil rebounded RM201 to RM3, 576 per tonne after several days of losses. Its record high was RM4, 506 on May 12. KL Kepong fell 32 sen to RM20.98, PPB Group 10 sen to RM18.50, IOI Corp nine sen to RM3.89 and Sime Plantation three sen to RM4.14.
US light crude oil rose eight cents to US$70.96 and Brent eked out a nine cent gain to US$72.95. Petronas Chemical was flat at RM8.10 while Petronas Gas shed four sen to RM15.90 and Petronas Dagangan 16 sen to RM19.04.
Axiata rose seven sen to RRM3.91 and nudged the index up by nearly one point and Digi four sen higher at RM4.24. Axiata said it could sign a definitive merger agreement with Norway’s Telenor to merge both companies’ Malaysian operations, in a matter of days or weeks.
As for glove makers, Hartalega
rose five sen to RM8.48, Supermax two sen to RM3.74 but Top Glove lost three sen to RM4.74.
Serba Dinamik fell 6.5 sen to 68 sen and it was the most active with 423 million shares done.
Chip makers and tech-related stocks were mixed. Vitrox fell 20 sen to RM15 while MPI and Unisem lost 12 sen each to RM39.88 and RM7.41 but Kobay rose 58 sen to RM2.74, MI 21 sen to RM3.41 and UWC 13 sen to RM5.42.
Berjaya Corp rose four sen to 33.5 sen as investors were upbeat on its strategic plan to revamp the group.
On the external front, China stocks ended lower as tensions between Beijing and the West soured investor sentiment after G7 leaders took the Asian nation to task over a range of issues, which China called a gross interference in the country’s internal affairs, Reuters reported.
The blue-chip CSI300 index ended 1.1% lower at 5, 166.56, while the Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.9% to 3, 556.56. and the Shanghai Composite lost 0.92%.
Among the other key Asian markets, Japan’s Nikei 225 rose 0.96%, South Korea’s Kospi added 0.2% but Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.79%.
