KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips closed slightly lower on Monday weighed down by losses in CIMB, Tenaga Nasional and Telekom, but the broader market was mixed.

At 5pm, the KLCI was down 0.92 of a point or 0.05% to 1,853.58. Turnover was 2.78 billion shares valued at RM3.05bil. There were 493 gainers, 476 losers and 355 counters unchanged.

Last week, foreign funds sold down Malaysian equities after the Pakatan Harapan-led coalition scored a stunning victory in the 14th General Election on May 9. They were net sellers at RM2.48bil and reduced the net inflow since January to RM40.2mil, according to MIDF Research.

On the external front, stocks, oil prices and the dollar were on the rise on Monday after the US-China trade war was declared “on hold” while in Europe, Italy’s borrowing costs climbed and the Milan bourse fell as two anti-establishment parties got closer to power, Reuters reported.

The ringgit weakened against the strengthening US dollar, falling 0.2% to 3.9802. However, the local unit rose 0.53% to the pound sterling to 5.3340 and gained 0.4% to the euro at 4.6718 and eked out a 0.02% gain to 2.9586.

At Bursa, CIMB fell 20 sen to RM6.60 and erased 3.35 points from the KLCI, Hong Leong Bank fell 14 sen to RM18.80 and H:FG 34 sen lower at RM18.76.

However, Public Bank helped shore up the KLCI, climbing 62 sen to an all-time high of RM25 and pushing the index up 4.31 points. Maybank's six sen gain to RM10.88 lifted the KLCI up 1.17 points while AmBank added three sen to RM3.56. RHB Bank was flat at RM5.44, 

Power giant Tenaga lost 26 sen to RM15.66 and wiped out 2.64 points. Genting Malaysia fell 10 sen to RM5.13 and MISC 11 sen to RM6.74.

Telekom was down 18 sen to RM4.70 and erased 1.21 point, Axiata lost three sen to RM5.13, Digi two sen lower at RM4.73 but Maxis edged up two sen to RM5.80.

Crude palm oil for third month delivery fell RM8 to RM2,442 per tonne. PPB Group rose two sen to RM20, IOI Corp added four sen to RM4.79 and KL Kepong gained 42 sen to RM25.02.

Sime Darby was flat at RM2.79, Sime Plantation added four sen to RM5.56 and Sime Property added three sen to RM1.46.
Cahya Mata Sarawak fell the most, down 56 sen or 22.6% to RM1.92 with 28.92 million shares done on concerns about its political links.

The proprietary day trading and intra-day short selling of CMS was suspended early Monday after the share price fell more than 15 sen or 15% limit.

MyEG Services was the most active with 144.51 million shares done. It rose 5.5 sen to 98 sen after the battering last week.

GSB rose 2.5 sen to 16 sen with 74 million shares traded after its minority shareholders received a conditional mandatory general offer from its major shareholder at 13 sen per share.