KUALA LUMPUR (March 27): the FBM KLCI pared down some of its gains at the mid-day break on Tuesday while key regional markets mostly rebounded on the back of the firmer overnight close at Wall Street.
Asian stocks rebounded on Tuesday and the dollar struggled after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said ultra-loose monetary policy was still needed to reduce unemployment even though the U.S. economy has shown signs of improvement, according to Reuters.
Wall Street stocks had risen more than 1 percent on Bernanke's comments, which supported views that easy monetary policy would remain in place for some time and fanned expectations for more asset purchases by the U.S. central bank, it said.
The FBM KLCI was up 5.20 points to 1,588.18 at the mid-day break, lifted by gains at select blue chips. The index had earlier risen to its intra-morning high of 1,591.03.
Losers edged gainers by 334 to 311, while 333 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 1.09 billion shares valued at RM726.26 million.
The ringgit strengthened 0.33% to 3.0697 versus the US dollar; crude palm oil futures for the third month delivery rose RM3 per tonne to RM3,462, crude oil fell 28 cents par e barrel to US$106.75 and gold lost US$3.15 an ounce to US$1,686.93.
At the regional markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.56% to 10,174.10, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 1.37% to 20,951.20, the Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.20% to 2,355.29, Taiwan’s Taiex was up 0.42% to 8,001.40, South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.60% to 2,031.27 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 0.85% to 2,999.72.
On Bursa Malaysia, Dutch Lady rose 60 sen to RM32, F&N was up 28 sen to RM18.54, Petronas Dagangan gained 24 sen to RM18.72, HLFG 18 sen to RM12.30, Genting PLANTATION []s 16 sen to RM9.41, MPI 15 sen to RM3.28, Petronas Gas and KLK up 14 sen each to RM16.88 and RM24, Amway 11 sen to RM9.81 and Ekovest 10 sen to RM2.70.
Metronic was the most actively traded counter with 152.12 million shares done. The stock rose 2.5 sen to 23 sen.
Other actives included Ariantec, Supercomnet, Frontken, Oversea Enterprise, Focus, TMS, Edusopec and Flonic.
Decliners this morning included Nestle, Supercomnet, SMPC, NISC, Top Glove, Favelle Favco, Allianz, AirAsia and Kossan.
Asian stocks rebounded on Tuesday and the dollar struggled after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said ultra-loose monetary policy was still needed to reduce unemployment even though the U.S. economy has shown signs of improvement, according to Reuters.
Wall Street stocks had risen more than 1 percent on Bernanke's comments, which supported views that easy monetary policy would remain in place for some time and fanned expectations for more asset purchases by the U.S. central bank, it said.
The FBM KLCI was up 5.20 points to 1,588.18 at the mid-day break, lifted by gains at select blue chips. The index had earlier risen to its intra-morning high of 1,591.03.
Losers edged gainers by 334 to 311, while 333 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 1.09 billion shares valued at RM726.26 million.
The ringgit strengthened 0.33% to 3.0697 versus the US dollar; crude palm oil futures for the third month delivery rose RM3 per tonne to RM3,462, crude oil fell 28 cents par e barrel to US$106.75 and gold lost US$3.15 an ounce to US$1,686.93.
At the regional markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.56% to 10,174.10, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 1.37% to 20,951.20, the Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.20% to 2,355.29, Taiwan’s Taiex was up 0.42% to 8,001.40, South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.60% to 2,031.27 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 0.85% to 2,999.72.
On Bursa Malaysia, Dutch Lady rose 60 sen to RM32, F&N was up 28 sen to RM18.54, Petronas Dagangan gained 24 sen to RM18.72, HLFG 18 sen to RM12.30, Genting PLANTATION []s 16 sen to RM9.41, MPI 15 sen to RM3.28, Petronas Gas and KLK up 14 sen each to RM16.88 and RM24, Amway 11 sen to RM9.81 and Ekovest 10 sen to RM2.70.
Metronic was the most actively traded counter with 152.12 million shares done. The stock rose 2.5 sen to 23 sen.
Other actives included Ariantec, Supercomnet, Frontken, Oversea Enterprise, Focus, TMS, Edusopec and Flonic.
Decliners this morning included Nestle, Supercomnet, SMPC, NISC, Top Glove, Favelle Favco, Allianz, AirAsia and Kossan.
