FBM KLCI remains in the red at mid-morning

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI briefly ventured into positive territory before declining at mid-morning Monday, May 3, in line with losses at key Asian bourses including South Korea's Kospi, Taiwan's TAIEX, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index and the Singapore Straits Times Index.

At 10.05am, the benchmark FBM KLCI fell 1.89 points to 1,344.49. Trading volume was 163.26 million shares valued at RM125.34 million. Losers led gainers by 200 to 129, while 167 counters traded unchanged.

At mid-morning, DiGI was the top loser and fell 18 sen to RM22.52; Sime fell 12 sen to RM8.66, KBB down 10 sen to 31.5 sen, Ho Hup lost 6.5 sen to 50 sen while UBG, P.I.E. and AFG fell 6 sen each to RM2.27, RM4.42 and RM3.07, respectively.

Meanwhile, Golsta and Tan Chong lost 5 sen each to 20 sen and RM4.55, respectively.

Pacific & Orient was among the top gainers in early trade and added 23 sen to RM1.49; LPI Capital jumped 16 sen to RM15.20 after Kenanga Research initiated coverage on the stock with a buy recommendation at RM15.04 and target price RM16.80.

The research house said it favoured LPI the most among general insurers in Malaysia due to its well-diversified business portfolio enabling the company to minimise its operating risks and generates the highest return on equity (RoE) to reward shareholders.

Proton added 15 sen to RM4.95, BAT and Tanjong rose 12 each to RM44.10 and RM18, KLK added 10 sen to RM16.60 while IJM and WCT gained 9 sen each to RM5.02 and RM3.03, respectively.

Talam was the most actively traded stock with 36.45 million shares done. The counter added one sen to 15 sen. Other actively traded stocks included Tejari, Olympia, Genting and KNM Group.