KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Negara Malaysia's suprise move to cut the overnight policy rate (OPR) by 25 basis points to 2.75% – the lowest since 2011 – prompted investors to cut their holdings in banks and sent the FBM KLCI into the red.
At 5pm, the KLCI was down 9.35 points or 0.59% to 1,577.98. Turnover was 3.07 billion shares valued at RM2.57bil. There were 397 gainers, 509 losers and 362 counters unchanged.
Concerns about a lower OPR impacting banks' net interest margins saw Public Bank, Hong Leong Bank, CIMB and Maybank falling just after the announcement was released at 3pm. Most economists had expected the OPR to be maintained.
Public Bank fell 46 sen to RM19.02 and erased 3.16 points from the KLCI while HLBank lost 60 sen to RM16.24 and wiped put 2.30 points.
...