KLCI falls in early trade, KLK, PetDag weigh

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's blue chips fell in early trade on Friday as
investors took profit ahead of the weekend while Malaysians go to the
polls on Sunday.
At 9.03am, the FBM KLCI was down 5.77 points to
1,707.69. Turnover was 13.45 million shares valued at RM13.80mil. There
were 39 gainers, 63 losers and 97 counters unchanged.
Reuters reported Asian shares rose on Friday after an interest rate cut by the European Central Bank added to hopes that more stimulus from yet another major central bank will help shore up the global economic recovery.
It
said the MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
rose 0.3%, with South Korean stocks gaining 0.2% in early trade.
Japanese financial markets are shut for holidays and will reopen on
Tuesday.
At Bursa Malaysia, KL Kepong fell the most on weakening crude palm oil prices, down 40 sen to RM21.18 while PPB Group lost 10 sen to RM12.74.
Petronas Dagangan lost 38 sen to RM23.14 and Petronas Chemical five sen to RM6.45.
BAT was down 32 sen to RM62.52 and UMW 24 sen lower at RM14.06 while HL Bank shed 12 sen to RM14.32. TM eased five sen to RM5.46.
Daya Materials
was the most active with 1.75 million shares done, inching up one sen
to 21 sen. Daya Materials' subsidiary and its partner had secured 49mil
euro (RM198mil) contract for the ventilation system for six new vessels
of the Malaysian navy.