KUALA LUMPUR (March 16) : Malaysian stocks pared down earlier gains towards midday against cautious sentiment across Asian bourses as investors weigh China’s economic growth concerns versus improving sentiments in the US.
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI rose 1.31 points to 1,580.69 points, spurred by banking stocks. The index had earlier gained as much as 0.3% or 4.17 points to 1,583.55 during intr morning trade.
Turnover across Bursa Malaysia came to 1.38 billion shares worth some RM727 million. There were 329 gainers versus 286 decliners while 342 stocks were unchanged.
Top gainer THETA-WA rose 26 sen to 46 sen followed by United PLANTATION []s Bhd which added 22 sen to RM25.20.
Decliners include NESTLE (M) BHD [] which lost 30 sen to RM55.70 while LAFARGE MALAYAN CEMENT BHD [] was down 15 sen to RM7.15
Most active was METRONIC GLOBAL BHD []. The stock which received an unusual market activity query by regulators, jumped 56% or 4.5 sen to settle at 12.5 sen at lunch break with some 341 million shares done.
Analysts said Malaysian stocks may continue to trade sideways ahead of the weekend, as Asian equities consolidate seen due to weaker sentiment on China's economic growth prospects.
Among Asian indices, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.01% to 4,277.2 points, Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.12% to 8,112.07 while South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.22% to 2,039.3. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.23% to 21,303.6.
China stocks, however, rebounded following a sell down in recent days. The Shanghai Composite rose 0.35% to 2,382.15 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.
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Thursday 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.
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI rose 1.31 points to 1,580.69 points, spurred by banking stocks. The index had earlier gained as much as 0.3% or 4.17 points to 1,583.55 during intr morning trade.
Turnover across Bursa Malaysia came to 1.38 billion shares worth some RM727 million. There were 329 gainers versus 286 decliners while 342 stocks were unchanged.
Top gainer THETA-WA rose 26 sen to 46 sen followed by United PLANTATION []s Bhd which added 22 sen to RM25.20.
Decliners include NESTLE (M) BHD [] which lost 30 sen to RM55.70 while LAFARGE MALAYAN CEMENT BHD [] was down 15 sen to RM7.15
Most active was METRONIC GLOBAL BHD []. The stock which received an unusual market activity query by regulators, jumped 56% or 4.5 sen to settle at 12.5 sen at lunch break with some 341 million shares done.
Analysts said Malaysian stocks may continue to trade sideways ahead of the weekend, as Asian equities consolidate seen due to weaker sentiment on China's economic growth prospects.
Among Asian indices, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.01% to 4,277.2 points, Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.12% to 8,112.07 while South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.22% to 2,039.3. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.23% to 21,303.6.
China stocks, however, rebounded following a sell down in recent days. The Shanghai Composite rose 0.35% to 2,382.15 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.
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Thursday 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.
