by TMR

The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index slipped at the end of the morning session today, dragged by the lethargic performance of several oil and gas-related and blue-chip stocks.

At 12.30pm, the local composite index was down by 2.91 points to 1,850.67. The index was traded between between a high of 1,854.61 and low 1,848.99 respectively.

The local bourse opened 1.03 points higher at 1,854.61 as fears over an impending trade war between US and China abated overnight.

A total of 1.15 billion shares valued at RM986.98 million were traded during the session with losers led gainers 474 to 319.

Top losers were Hengyuan Refining Company Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd and Latitude Tree Holdings Bhd.

Gainers for the day were Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd, Panasonic Manufacturing Malaysia Bhd, Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd, Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd and Aeon Credit Service (M) Bhd.

Asian markets for the day were generally higher with Korea’s KOSPI up by 4.92 points at 2,465.57, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng up 20.31 points at 4,314.18 and Singapore’s STI up 4.07 points at 3,552.30.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 23.08 points at 22,979.29 in line with the broader MSCI AC Asia Pacific slipping 0.17 points to 174.20.

US markets were higher with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up by 298.20 points at 25,013.29 and the S&P 500 up 20.04 points at 2,733.01.