KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips got off on a lacklustre start on Thursday in absence of strong leads from institutions as Hong Leong Bank and Tenaga Nasional slipped in thin trade.

At 9.12am, the KLCI was down 2.06 points or 0.12% to 1,687.99. Turnover was 356.75 million shares valued at RM81.08mil. There were 187 gainers, 99 losers and 213 counters unchanged.

Asian stocks saw modest gains after Wall Street rose to all-time highs in thin trading ahead of a holiday. The dollar was little changed, amid further comments on Chinese and European currency manipulation by President Donald Trump, Bloomberg reported.

Shares in Japan, Australia and South Korea rose after the S&P 500 climbed for a fifth day.

On the outlook of the KLCI, Kenanga Research believes the underlying trend remains bullish as the index remains above its key SMAs. 

“From here, resistances can be found at 1,700 (R1). A break above should see the index trend higher towards 1,730 (R2). Conversely, downside supports can be identified at 1,650 (S1) and 1,600 (S2),” it said.

Hong Leong Bank fell 12 sen to RM18.98 with just 5,700 shares done, Tenaga lost six sen to RM14.18 and Petronas Chemicals three sen to RM8.57.

Vitrox and VS Industry lost six sen each to RM6.96 and  RM1.13 while Gamuda eased four sen RM3.92 and Hartalega shed three sen to RM5.18.

HLFG was the top gainer, up14 sen to RM18.94 with just 100 shares done.

Yinson rose  12 sen to RM6.36. CGS-CIMB Equities Research reversed its short-lived “Downgrade to Hold” recommendation for Yinson that it had issued on June 26 and upgraded the oil and gas services company back to an Add call.

Rapid added nine sen to RM5.74, Genting Plantations eight sen to RM10.12, Gas Malaysia five sen to RM2.91 while Axiata and Pos Malaysia rose by four sen to RM5.26 and RM1.82.

Poultry company Teo Seng added four sen to RM1.25 in active trade.