KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips closed lower on Wednesday weighed down by losses in glove makers while a fall in crude palm oil (CPO) prices dragged plantations into the red.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI was down 3.05 points or 0.19% to 1, 579.32. Turnover was 4.68 billion shares valued at RM3.13bil. Decliners beat advancers nearly two to one or 668 losers to 349 gainers and 449 counters were unchanged.
CPO futures fell RM522 or 13% to RM3, 471 per tonne. Among the plantations, Genting Plantation fell the most, down 31 sen to Rm7.17 and KL Kepong 26 sen to RM20.76, IOI Corp and Sime Plantation four sen lower to RM3.85 and RM4.10 but PPB Group edged up four sen to RM18.54.
As for glove makers, Hartalega fell 15 sen to RM8.33, Top Glove eight sen to RM4.66 and Supermax four sen to RM3.70.
...