Genting weighs on KLCI on profit taking

KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips closed lower on Friday after three straight days of gains, as investors decided to take profit in the absence of any strong measures to resolve the euro zone crisis.

Commodities including crude palm oil (CPO) futures fell in line with the cautious sentiment in key regional and European equities markets.

The FBM KLCI fell 4.69 points to 1,570.62, with Genting Bhd the main drag on the index. Turnover was 576.86 million shares valued at RM988.39mil. Declining stocks beat advancers 376 to 288 while 327 counters were unchanged.

UOB Kay Hian Malaysia Research, in its strategy report, said it expected market volatility and risk premiums to remain high in the second half of 2012.

"We expect the prevailing weak sentiment to persist through the third quarter of 2012 before recovering perhaps only in the fourth quarter, with a trough at the 1,450 to 1,500 level," it said.

UOB Kay Hian Research said its end-2012 KLCI target was unchanged at 1,560 for now.

All the key regional markets were in the red. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 2.09% to 8,459.26; Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index 0.94% to 18,502.34; Shanghai's Composite Index 0.51% to 2,281.45; South Korea's Kospi 0.67% to 1,835.64; Taiwan's Taiex 1.14% to 6,999.65 and Singapore's Straits Times Index 0.77% lower at 2,737.89.

US light crude oil fell US$2.56 to US$82.26 and Brent US$2.12 to US$97.81. Spot golf lost US$15.91 to US$1,573.41. The ringgit was quoted at 3.1895 to the US dollar,

Crude palm oil third-month futures fell RM25 to RM2,949.

Genting Plantations fell 44 sen to RM9.06, KLK 12 sen to RM22.70 while IOI lost eight sen to RM5.06 and conglomerate Sime Darby two sen to RM9.69. Hwoever, Untied Plantations rose rose 30 sen to RM24.32 and Batu Kawan 26 sen to RM18.26.

Genting Bhd fell 23 sen to RM9.56, dragging the KLCI down 2.01 points while genting Malaysia lost three sen to RM3.54.

Among the index stocks, Maxis lost nine sen to RM6.42, PetChem and AirAsia five sen each to RM6.49 and RM3.65 while Maybank and Public Bank shed two sen each to RM8.70 and RM13.68.

Affin rose 12 sen to RM3.20 on speculation that Bank of East Asia (BEA) could be divesting its 23.5% stake in the former.

Consumer dividend stocks were among the gainers, with Nestle up 80 sen to RM54.40, BAT 40 sen to RM55.90, Carlsberg 18 sen to RM10.68 and GAB 12 sen to RM13.44.