KUALA LUMPUR (March 30): The FBM KLCI ended the first quarter of 2012 on a high note, in line with the global markets that mostly picked up gains at the end of the quarter.
The 30-stock index rose 10.89 points to closet at 1,596.33 on Friday, lifted by blue chips including banking and Petronas-linked stocks.
The closing was just a tad below its all-time high of 1,597.08 that the index rose to on July 11 last year.
Year-to-date, the index racked up 65.6 points from its December 30 close of 1,530.73. Gainers edged losers by 402 to 360, while 334 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 1.25 billion shares valued at RM2.08 billion.
World stocks rose with Europe up more than half a percent on Friday, picking up gains at the end of the quarter and with investors eyeing a boost to the euro zone's bailout resources that ministers are expected to sign off on later in the day, according to Reuters.
Despite the strong quarter, sentiment across asset classes has turned bearish since mid-March due to fears of a slowdown in growth centred on China, and the conviction that a huge injection of central bank money may only be a panacea for Europe's debt troubles, it said.
At the regional markets, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.47% to 2,272.79, Taiwan’s Taiex added 0.77% to 7,933.00 and Singapore’s straits Times Index gained
Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 0.31% lower at 10,083.56, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.26% to 20,555.58 while South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.02% to 2,014.04.
Affin Investment Bank Bhd vice president and head of retail research Dr Nazri Khan said that despite pockets of weakness from China market (Shanghai Composite at 10-week low) and soft economic data from the US and Europe, he expects the FBM KLCI to continue market uptrend supported by local liquidity and strong first quarter performance.
“The local market has ample liquidity at the sidelines, accommodative Bank Negara, low interest rates and government commitment for economic project. Plain and simple.
“We also believe the local market will take further cues from a strong USA market,” he said.
He added that there was a fairly reasonable speculative element in the small cap stocks to create some excitement near term (Carotec, Mtronics, Keywest, Focus, Tiger to name a few).
“Though we agree that the local market is overbought and investors may pause after recent sharp gains, we are yet to see any evidence of distribution to suggest serious market wind down in the near term,” he said.
On Bursa Malaysia, KLK was the top gainer and added 46 sen to RM24.60, F&N up 28 sen to RM18.88, Takaful 27 sen to RM3.39, United PLANTATION []s 18 sen to RM24.98, Kossan, Bursa and DiGi added 12 sen each to RM3.35, RM7.38 and RM4.06 respectively.
Among banking stocks, Hong Leong bank gained 24 sen to RM12.62, AMMB 10 sen to RM6.31, CIMB nine sen to RM7.69 and Maybank seven sen to RM8.87.
Among Pertronas-linked stocks, Petronas Dagangan rose 26 sen to RM18.94, Petronas Gas 10 sen to RM16.84 and Petronas Chemicals six sen to RM6.74.
Carotech was the most actively traded counter with 99.63 million shares done.
Other actives included CIMB, Focus, Ariantec, Metronic, YTL, Naim Indah Corp and Key West.
Decliners included Genting, Dutch Lady, sunchirin, Multico, Kulang, Shangri-La, Kulim, Fiamma, Advanced Packaging and TDM.
The 30-stock index rose 10.89 points to closet at 1,596.33 on Friday, lifted by blue chips including banking and Petronas-linked stocks.
The closing was just a tad below its all-time high of 1,597.08 that the index rose to on July 11 last year.
Year-to-date, the index racked up 65.6 points from its December 30 close of 1,530.73. Gainers edged losers by 402 to 360, while 334 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 1.25 billion shares valued at RM2.08 billion.
World stocks rose with Europe up more than half a percent on Friday, picking up gains at the end of the quarter and with investors eyeing a boost to the euro zone's bailout resources that ministers are expected to sign off on later in the day, according to Reuters.
Despite the strong quarter, sentiment across asset classes has turned bearish since mid-March due to fears of a slowdown in growth centred on China, and the conviction that a huge injection of central bank money may only be a panacea for Europe's debt troubles, it said.
At the regional markets, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.47% to 2,272.79, Taiwan’s Taiex added 0.77% to 7,933.00 and Singapore’s straits Times Index gained
Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 0.31% lower at 10,083.56, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.26% to 20,555.58 while South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.02% to 2,014.04.
Affin Investment Bank Bhd vice president and head of retail research Dr Nazri Khan said that despite pockets of weakness from China market (Shanghai Composite at 10-week low) and soft economic data from the US and Europe, he expects the FBM KLCI to continue market uptrend supported by local liquidity and strong first quarter performance.
“The local market has ample liquidity at the sidelines, accommodative Bank Negara, low interest rates and government commitment for economic project. Plain and simple.
“We also believe the local market will take further cues from a strong USA market,” he said.
He added that there was a fairly reasonable speculative element in the small cap stocks to create some excitement near term (Carotec, Mtronics, Keywest, Focus, Tiger to name a few).
“Though we agree that the local market is overbought and investors may pause after recent sharp gains, we are yet to see any evidence of distribution to suggest serious market wind down in the near term,” he said.
On Bursa Malaysia, KLK was the top gainer and added 46 sen to RM24.60, F&N up 28 sen to RM18.88, Takaful 27 sen to RM3.39, United PLANTATION []s 18 sen to RM24.98, Kossan, Bursa and DiGi added 12 sen each to RM3.35, RM7.38 and RM4.06 respectively.
Among banking stocks, Hong Leong bank gained 24 sen to RM12.62, AMMB 10 sen to RM6.31, CIMB nine sen to RM7.69 and Maybank seven sen to RM8.87.
Among Pertronas-linked stocks, Petronas Dagangan rose 26 sen to RM18.94, Petronas Gas 10 sen to RM16.84 and Petronas Chemicals six sen to RM6.74.
Carotech was the most actively traded counter with 99.63 million shares done.
Other actives included CIMB, Focus, Ariantec, Metronic, YTL, Naim Indah Corp and Key West.
Decliners included Genting, Dutch Lady, sunchirin, Multico, Kulang, Shangri-La, Kulim, Fiamma, Advanced Packaging and TDM.
