KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB, RHB Bank and Maybank dragged the FBM KLCI into the red at Tuesday's close on concerns about their exposure to Singapore's financially distressed oil and gas company Swiber.

However, it was not all doom and gloom as diversified group DRB-Hicom shares and its call warrants jumped in very active trade as traders pushed the counters on expecations of fresh corporate news. Also trading higher were consumer stocks while MAHB rebounded.

At 5pm, the FBM KLCI was down 5.00 points or 0.3% to 1,660.23. Turnover was 1.92 billion shares valued at RM1.84bil. Decliners beat advancers 491 to 277 while 362 counters were unchanged.

The ringgit weakened against several key currencies, falling to 4.0425 to the US dollar from 4.0245; it was lower against the pound sterling at 5.3604 from 5.3010 and declined against the Singapore dollar at 3.0189 from 3.0009. It was 4.5365 to the euro from 4.4857.

RHB Bank fell 15 sen to RM4.94 and erased 1.02 points from the KLCI, CIMB was down nine sen to RM4.41 and wiped out 1.34 points and Maybank's five sen fall to RM7.98 shed 0.85 of a point. 

Banks, including Maybank and RHB Bank, may recognise provisioning for their exposure to distressed Singapore oilfield services firm Swiber Holdings which is seeking to operate under judicial management. 

However, Public Bank rose 12 sen to RM19.80, Hong Leong Bank four sen to RM13.26 and AmBank three sen to RM4.42.

MBSB rose 5.5 sen to 75.5 sen and it was the most active with 99.50 million shares done, spurred by news about  seasoned investor Tan Sri Chua Ma Yu raising his stake to 8.97% from 6.06% through subscription of the company’s rights issue. 

Read More: http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2016/08/02/banks-drag-klci-into-the-red-drb-hicom-in-focus/