15/08/2014 (The Star) - Plantations were among the major losers in Thursday's morning session as crude palm oil (CPO) futures fell to the lowest since October 2009 level of RM2,133.

At 12.30pm, the KLCI was down 0.2 point to 1,857.84. Turnover was 2.39 billion shares valued at RM1.18bil. There were 352 gainers, 389 losers and 330 counters unchanged.

CPO for third-month delivery fell RM33 to RM2,143 but off the earlier low of RM2,133 on rising stockpile, hurting the earnings of plantation companies and their share price.

KL Kepong fell 18 sen to RM23.70 while PPB Group lost 12 sen to RM15.12 and NSOP was down 11 sen to RM5.75 while FGV fell eight sen to RM3.98. United Plantations bucked the market to add 28 sen to RM28.28.

However, Petronas Gas rose 40 sen to RM22.66 and Petronas Dagangan 36 sen higher at RM20.28 on some fund buying.

Profit taking saw cement producer Tasek shedding 14 sen to RM15.62.

Among the consumer stocks, Carlsberg lost 10 sen to RM11.88 but BAT rose 10 sen to RM70.90.

As for banks, Maybank rose four sen to RM9.98, Public Bank two sen to RM19.04 while CIMB and AmBank edged up one sen each to RM6.94 and RM7.13.

Perisai Petroleum rose seven sen to RM1.44 as analysts expected it to perform better.

The ringgit strengthened to 3.1802 at midday from the previous close of 3.1935.

Among the key regional markets,

Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.7% to 15,320.54;

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.08% to 24,871.55;

Shanghai's Composite Index fell 0.05% to 2,221.80;

Taiwan's Taiex ros e0.01% to 9,232.37;

South Korea's Kospi fell 0.15% to 2,059.26 and

Singapore's Straits Times Index rose 0.13% to 3,305.71

US light crude oil fell 23 cents to US$97.36 and Brent 48 cents lower at US$103.80.

Spot gold rose 86 cents to US$1,313.78.