KUALA LUMPUR: The market was in a cautious mood as investors worried over the health of the US banking sector following recent developments at First Republic Bank.
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At 12.30pm, Malaysia’s benchmark FBM KLCI eked out a 2.29-point gain to 1,416.54 as investors cautiously bought up sold down stocks from the previous session.
The market breadth was nearly even with 378 decliners compared with 374 decliners.
Trading volume was 1.45 billion shares valued at RM686.58mil.
Bank stocks rebounded after leading losses yesterday, with Maybank rising three sen to RM8.64, Public Bank gaining one sen to RM3.90, CIMB climbing five sen to RM5.10 and Hong Leong Bank adding six sen to RM20.12.
This was offset by PETRONAS Chemicals falling 11 sen to RM7.04.
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Consumer stocks also retreated including Nestle down 50 sen to RM135.50, Heineken falling 14 sen to RM27.64, F&N dropping 12 sen to RM26.98 and Dutch Lady sliding 10 sen to RM26.20.
Of actives, Classita rose two sen to 18 sen, Tanco gained four sen to 52 sen and CFM adding one sen to 28 sen.
Regionally, markets were little changed as markets awaited the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate announcement next week.
Japan’s Nikkei dropped 0.1% to 28,381, South Korea’s Kospi was unchanged at 2,484 and China’s composite index added 0.2% to 3,270.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.1% to 19,773 while Australia’s ASX200 slid 0.4% to 7,284. – The Star