Genting drags blue chips into red

Selling pressure accelerated towards midday on July 29, sending the FBB KLCI into the red, mirroring the losses in most key Asian markets as investors turned cautious about corporate earnings.
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI fell 7.91 points to 1,164.47. Turnover was 742.14 million shares valued at RM892.47 million. There were 205 gainers, 387 losers and 236 counters unchanged.

Among key Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.22% to 10,109.02 but Shanghai's Composite Index fell 1.75% 3,378.05, Singapore's Straits Times Index 0.2% lower at 2,618.99 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 1.63% to 20,289.10.

Crude palm oil futures was unchanged at RM2,140.

Light crude oil fell 56 cents to US$66.67 a barrel, extending its decline from the previous day when it fell US$1. According to Reuters, the fall in oil prices were on renewed concerns over the U.S. economy after a drop in consumer confidence and bearish American Petroleum Institute (API) crude data.
API reported US crude oil stockpiles jumped 4.1 million barrels last week, countering analysts' expectations for a 1.3 million-barrel draw, as imports rose and refiners slowed their processing rates.

At Bursa Malaysia, Genting fell 30 sen to RM6.40, IJM 25 sen to RM6.05 and PPB 10 sen to RM14.20. Other decliners were Edaran, sliding 15 sen to 50 sen while MPI also gave up 15 sen to RM5.90, A&M and Asia File 12 sen each to 57 sen and RM4.98 while KKB gave up 10 sen to RM1.70.

KNM was the most active with 40.7 million shares done, falling 1.5 sen to 88 sen. Lion Corp gave up 2,5 sen to 49.5 sen. However, Tebrau Teguh added two sen to 82.5 sen.

John Master jumped 16.5 sen to 90 sen with 10 million units done after its proposed 63 sen capital repayment.
Warisan rose 34 sen to Rm2.28, making it the top gainer but with only 200 shares done. Consumer stocks rose, with Dutch Lady adding 30 sen to Rm11.30, Nestke and BAT 25 sen each to RM32 and RM45.50.