KUALA LUMPUR: Pekat Group Bhd surged on its trading debut early Wednesday but the overall market was lacklustre in the absence of strong buying interest.
At 9.17am, the FBM KLCI was down 4.29 points or 0.27% to 1, 569.73. Turnover was 639.59 million shares valued at RM311.97mil. There were 193 gainers, 255 losers and 339 counters unchanged.
Rakuten Trade said despite the firmer overnight close on Wall Street, it said volatility remains high and thus may see some mixed trading amongst the regional markets on Wednesday.
Yesterday, the FBM KLCI performance was rather disappointing in the absence of any buying conviction.
“Due to the lack of buying catalysts, we expect the index to trend within the 1, 575-1, 585 range today, ” the research house said.
At Bursa on Tuesday, local funds were net buyers at RM61mil and local retailers RM81.3mil but foreign funds were net sellers at RM142.2mil.
Solar photovoltaic (PV) and earthing and lightning protection (ELP) specialist Pekat Group surged to a high of 93 sen in early trade. It was trading at 81 sen, up 49 sen with 127.69 million shares done.
OMH, which was listed on the Main Market on Tuesday, added 13 sen to RM2.96.
KESM fell 26 sen to RM10.80, PMB Tech 15 sen to RM5.20 but MPI climbed 42 sen to RM38.94, Genetec 19 sen jumped to RM5.80 and Unisem nine sen to RM7.53.
As for glove makers, Comfort Gloves lost 14 sen to RM2.02, Hartalega 10 sen to RM8.10 and Supermax seven sen to RM3.49.
Pharmaniaga rose 11 sen to RM5.31.
Serba Dinamik shed one sen to 61.5 sen. It said on Tuesday it has taken legal action against KPMG after the auditor raised issues with some of the company’s contracts and transactions.
KPMG has “negligently red flagged some issues”, its chairman Mohamed Ilyas Pakeer Mohamed said at a news conference.
Bloomberg reported earlier Asian stocks were steady early Wednesday after reassuring comments on inflation and monetary policy from Federal Reserve officials. The dollar and Treasury yields held declines.
Japanese and South Korean stocks fluctuated, while Australian shares retreated. U.S. equity contracts edged up after the S&P 500 climbed a second day as Chair Jerome Powell reiterated his views that inflation pressures will be transitory even after a notable increase in recent months.
Oil traded around $73 a barrel after an industry report pointed to another decline in U.S. crude stockpiles. Bitcoin rebounded from a tumble below $30, 000.-The Star