PETALING JAYA: Foreign selling of bank stocks, especially shares of Public Bank, sank the market barometer FBM KLCI into the red on the first day of the second quarter today while other key Asian markets headed north.
According to Reuters, the Shanghai Composite Index hit its highest level in 10 months, with blue chips at a one-year peak, on long-awaited signals of an economic recovery and progress in China-US trade talks. Pong Teng Siew, head of research at Inter-Pacific Securities, told FMT the positive developments in the China-US trade talks could have been a contributory factor in the fall in the KLCI today.Banks were dragged down with the sombre outlook with Public Bank, Hong Leong Bank, Maybank, CIMB and AmBank weighing on the KLCI.
“I am of the opinion that Public Bank shares took a hit as Macquarie had downgraded the company in a report,” said Pong.