KUALA LUMPUR: Market sentiment turned cautious in the morning session on Thursday, Feb 4 on some mild selling of banks and glove makers, which had been the top performers early last month. At midday, trading volume shrank substantially to 296.98 million units valued at RM405.57 million from the 408 million shares valued at RM453 million in Wednesday's morning session. The FBM KLCI fell 2.71 points to 1,264.44. The market breadth was weaker with 358 losers to 156 gainers. Traders said market sentiment would continue to remain cautious despite the better corporate earnings, due to concerns about political issues and external events. The Hang Seng Index fell 1.55% to 20,401.84, Shanghai Composite Index 0.52% lower at 2,988.17, Nikkei 225 0.86% lower at 10,315.21 while Singapore's Straits Times Index lost 0.71% to 2,745.09. Crude palm oil futures rose RM5 to RM2,500 while light crude oil added four cents to US$77.03 and US spot gold was trading at US$1,109.27. Hong Leong Bank fell the most, down 14 sen to RM8.24, RHB Cap eight sen to RM5.33 while CIMB shed two sen to RM12.72. Top Glove fell 12 sen to RM11.34, Rubberex-WA 10 sen to RM1.74, Supermax shed 10 sen to RM5.22, Hartalega nine sen to RM7.31. Among the other FBM KLCI stocks, Axiata fell three sen to RM3.37, Genting six sen to RM6.94, MISC five sen to RM8.20 and Sime two sen to RM8.45. DiGi was the top gainer, rising 20 sen to RM22.30, supported by its second interim dividend of 54 sen. OSK Research kept Neutral call on DiGi with target price of RM23.10. PPB rose 16 sen to RM16 while property based Magna added 12.5 sen to RM1.04 and the warrants 18.5 sen higher at 71 sen. Hospital operator KPJ and its warrants added nine sen each to RM2.30 and RM1.29.

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