KUALA LUMPUR (March 16) : Malaysia’s FBM KLCI gave up earlier gains to end in negative territory on Friday in tandem with major Asian indices as foreign investors liquidated regional equities to capitalise on the recovery in the US.
News reports indicate that foreign investors are channeling their funds into US-based assets, lending support to the strength of the US dollar. US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner had said the world’s largest economy is showing indications of early growth but still has to contend with tough challenges which require policymakers to undertake measures to generate jobs.
In Malaysia, the 30-stock FBM KLCI fell 0.5% or 7.98 points to close at 1,571.4 at 5pm. The index had earlier gained as much as 0.3% or 4.17 points to 1,583.55 during intraday trade.
Turnover across Bursa Malaysia came to 2.41 billion shares worth some RM1.93 billion.There were 427 gainers versus 330 decliners while 344 stocks were unchanged.
Top gainer TAHPS GROUP BHD [] rose 29 sen to close at RM4.80 followed by AEON CREDIT SERVICE (M) BHD [] which added 27 sen to RM9.
Decliners include BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO (M) [] Bhd which fell RM1.46 to RM52.50 while PETRONAS GAS BHD [] was down 60 sen to RM16.
The top two most active stocks - Ariantec Global Bhd and METRONIC GLOBAL BHD [] were queried by regulators for unusual trading patterns in their shares.
Ariantec shares rose 90% or 4.5 sen to close at 9.5 sen with some 438 million shares done while Metronic rose 56% or 4.5 sen to 12.5 sen with about 404 million shares changing hands.
Among Asian indices, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.17% to close at 21,317.85 points, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.04% to 4,276.16, while South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.46% to 2,034.44
China stocks ,however, rebounded following a sell down in recent days. The Shanghai Composite rose 1.3% to 2,404.74 points
China’s outgoing premier Wen Jiabao had said on Wednesday that measures to curb property speculation must be maintained to prevent a real estate bubble which will be detrimental to the country’s economy. On Thursday, the Commerce Ministry announced that China’s foreign direct investment fell 0.9% to US$7.7 billion in February from a year earlier.
News reports indicate that foreign investors are channeling their funds into US-based assets, lending support to the strength of the US dollar. US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner had said the world’s largest economy is showing indications of early growth but still has to contend with tough challenges which require policymakers to undertake measures to generate jobs.
In Malaysia, the 30-stock FBM KLCI fell 0.5% or 7.98 points to close at 1,571.4 at 5pm. The index had earlier gained as much as 0.3% or 4.17 points to 1,583.55 during intraday trade.
Turnover across Bursa Malaysia came to 2.41 billion shares worth some RM1.93 billion.There were 427 gainers versus 330 decliners while 344 stocks were unchanged.
Top gainer TAHPS GROUP BHD [] rose 29 sen to close at RM4.80 followed by AEON CREDIT SERVICE (M) BHD [] which added 27 sen to RM9.
Decliners include BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO (M) [] Bhd which fell RM1.46 to RM52.50 while PETRONAS GAS BHD [] was down 60 sen to RM16.
The top two most active stocks - Ariantec Global Bhd and METRONIC GLOBAL BHD [] were queried by regulators for unusual trading patterns in their shares.
Ariantec shares rose 90% or 4.5 sen to close at 9.5 sen with some 438 million shares done while Metronic rose 56% or 4.5 sen to 12.5 sen with about 404 million shares changing hands.
Among Asian indices, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.17% to close at 21,317.85 points, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.04% to 4,276.16, while South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.46% to 2,034.44
China stocks ,however, rebounded following a sell down in recent days. The Shanghai Composite rose 1.3% to 2,404.74 points
China’s outgoing premier Wen Jiabao had said on Wednesday that measures to curb property speculation must be maintained to prevent a real estate bubble which will be detrimental to the country’s economy. On Thursday, the Commerce Ministry announced that China’s foreign direct investment fell 0.9% to US$7.7 billion in February from a year earlier.
