KUALA LUMPUR: Asian markets were mostly higher at midday on July 1 but the KL Composite Index was slightly lower as Maybank weighed on sentiment as it would see slight deterioration in non-performing loans.

The broader market was subdued at Bursa Malaysia, with declining counters beating advancers nearly four to one.

At noon, the KL Composite Index was down 1.19 points to 1,074.05. Turnover was 387.46 million shares valued at RM387.54 million. There were 391 losers to 96 gainers while 178 stocks were unchanged.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 up 0.88% to 10,046.44, Shanghai’s Composite Index rose 0.9% to 2,986.09 and Singapore’s Straits Times eased 0.02% to 2,332.69.

Light crude oil rose 79 cents to US$70.68 while crude palm oil price futures added RM17 to RM2,246.

CIMB Equities Research said although the KLCI’s subdued performance yesterday suggested many investors were disappointed the Prime Minister’ policy announcements were not more radical, “we believe that the market will better reflect the hugely positive undertone of the new measures after investors have had more time to digest the significant and far reaching implications”.

It said sectors that could be benefit from yesterday’s policy announcements include financial, property, airline, autos and construction.

“We maintain our Overweight call on Malaysia and year-end KLCI target of 1,220. Of the companies that participated in yesterday’s corporate presentations, our preferred picks include cyclicals and higher-beta stocks such as AirAsia and Kencana as well as defensives such as Genting,” it said.

At Bursa, Maybank and MISC-F fell 10 sen each to RM5.80 and RM8.50. BLD Plantations and Berjaya Land fell 18 sen each to RM3.10 and RM3.76 while Asia File fell 17 sen to RM4.98.

UEM Land fell nine sen to RM1.47 with 24.6 million shares done. On June 17, it announced to Bursa Malaysia that Damac Properties (M) Sdn Bhd - which is part of Dubai’s Damac Group – withdrew from a deal with UEM Land Holdings Bhd to acquire a piece of land for RM396.44 million land in Nusajaya, Iskandar Malaysia.

Time was the most active with 32 million shares done, down 1.5 sen to 29 sen. MRCB fell four sen to RM1.22 and KNM 2.5 sen to RM1.47. Talam-PB fell 10 sen to 10 sen with 12.5 million units done on its first trading day.

Ingress surged 17.5 sen to 36.5 sen with 9.22 million units done after securing contracts.

Nestle was the top gainer, adding 25 sen to RM31.50, PPB 20 sen to RM11.80, Tanjong also rose 20 sen to RM13.50 while Genting advanced 15 sen to RM5.80.