Friday 29 Mar 2024
By
main news image

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 1): The FBM KLCI fell in early trade on Monday following the lack fresh catalysts for the local bourse and dampened global risk appetite of declining crude oil price.

At 9.05am, the FBM KLCI was down 0.59 points to 1,820.30.

The top losers included Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, PPB Group Bhd, Lafarge Malaysia Bhd, Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd, British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Petronas Gas Bhd, MISC Bhd, SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd, Amway (Malaysia) Holdings Bhd, DiGi,Com Bhd and Faber Group Bhd.

At the global markets, gold prices fell the most in more than three weeks and the Swiss franc dipped slightly on Monday after Swiss voters overwhelmingly rejected proposals to boost gold reserves in a referendum, according to Reuters.

The measure, had it been approved, would have compelled the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to more than double its gold reserves and banned it from ever selling the metal, threatening its ability to defend a 1.20 euro cap on the Swiss franc imposed at the height of the euro zone crisis, it said.

M & A Securities research head Rosnani Rasul said Wall Street was on selling mood last Friday, pushing major index to shave some points, hurt by the weakening crude oil price.

She said the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 5.27 (0.25%) and 0.49 (0.00%) points to end at 2,067.56 and 17,828.24 respectively.

Rosnani said crude oil price took a beating last Friday (WTI) as the precious commodity price touched USD64 per barrel while futures price for January delivery reached USD66, giving a chilling sign on what to come for the major global oil producer countries.

She said Russia, Indonesia, the GCC countries were just some of the few nations that heavily dependent of crude oil revenue to pump its economy.

Rosnani said Wall Street’s trading mood follow in tow as there was some selling pressure on energy related stocks.

She said that on the home front, it is almost certain that Bursa Malaysia may be resume its selling pressure today in tandem with Petronas’ plan to cut its capex by 15%-20% in 2015. 

“This is equivalent to a ceiling cut of RM60 billion and hence, would almost certainly hurt the local energy players.

“More importantly, with no catalyst in sight as OPEC refused to cut its supply in its last week’s meeting, we see no reason for crude oil price to restart its positive pace.

“Hence, expect the local market to lose some points and the mood for the whole week will be dictated by the performance of crude oil price, we opine,” she said.

 

      Print
      Text Size
      Share