KLCI falls in early trade, Genting weighs

KUALA LUMPUR (March 7): The FBM KLCI fell in early trade on Wednesday, weighed by losses at blue chips, in line with the overnight fall at Wall Street and European markets, as well as on weaker trade sentiment at major regional bourses.

Asian stocks retreated on concerns over Greek debt default resurfaced uncertainty on China and Europe's economic outlook weighed on global shares, according to Reuters.

The FBM KLCI fell 13.38 points to1,576.53 at 9.05am. Losers led gainers by 2558 to 35, while 122 counters traded unchanged.

At Bursa Malaysia, HLFG fell 38 sen to RM12.12, KLK down 26 sen to RM23.02, Genting 18 sen to RM10.74, Panasonic and GAB 14 sen each to RM22 and RM13.62, IJM PLANTATION []s 12 sen to RM3.21 while Hong Leong Bank and Carslberg lost 10 sen each to RM12.30 and RM10.30.



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Market cautious in early trade

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 22): Blue chips edged lower in early trade on Wednesday as the rally seemed to have run out of steam with PLANTATION []s among the major decliners as investors took profit.

At 9.08am, the FBM KLCI fell 1.28 points to 1,562.50. Turnover was 124.26 million shares valued at RM40.44 million. There were 112 gainers, 90 losers and 154 stocks unchanged.

CIMB Research said in its market outlook that the rebound from Friday continues to be weak as the internal sports weakness. There are more losers compared to gainers in the past week suggesting that the rally is running out of steam.

The research house said the KLCI is still below the key resistance band of 1,560-1,565, where sellers have been strong.

“We continue to wait for a close below the 1,550 levels to confirm that the trend has reversed. For now, expect more sideways movement as the bullish momentum from the September lows grinds to a halt.

“A close below the 1,550 levels would likely send the index back towards 1,530 and 1,500 next,” said CIMB Research.

Among the decliners were plantations, with Harrisons down 26 sen to RM3.44, PPB 24 sen to RM17.40, Genting Plantations 23 sen to RM9.17 and IJM Plantations seven sen to RM3.28.

Eng Tek fell six sen to RM1.67 and Unisem five sen to RM1.42 on losses in the October-December quarter following the severe Thai floods last year.

Other decliners were Perwaja, down 14.5 sen to 76.5 sen, Petronas Dagangan 14 sen to RM17.96 and Lafarge Cement nine sen to RM7.15.



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RHB Research maintains overweight on plantations

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 11): RHB Research Institute said Malaysia’s crude palm oil (CPO) production fell by 8.2% on-month in December, while exports fell by a slightly smaller 4.5% on-month.

It said on Wednesday that on a year-on-year basis, production rose by 21.3% on-year in December (+11.3% 2011), while exports rose by 23.1% on-year in December (+7.9% 2011).

RHB Research said as a result, closing CPO stock levels fell by 1.5% on-month to 2.04 million tonnes in December (from 2.07 million tonnes in November).

“We are now well and truly in the low season for CPO, although we suspect the slowdown in production was exacerbated by the wetter-than-usual weather patterns.

“As a result of the lower CPO stock levels, the stock/usage ratio in December fell to 10.36% (down from 10.5% in November and up from 8.7% in December 2010),” it said.

RHB Research said it had examined a lot of the supply risks in our previous reports, in particular from the onset of La Niña.

“We maintain our CPO price assumptions of RM3,100 a tonne for CY12 and RM2,900 a tonne for CY13.

“Due to the continued strength in liquidity in the market, we believe the PLANTATION [] sector will continue to benefit from these liquidity flows and are therefore upping our PER valuation targets by 1.0 times for all the stocks under our coverage.

“Our Overweight call on the sector is maintained, with five Outperforms (Genting Plant, Sime Darby, TH Plantations, First Resources and CBIP), two Market Performs (IOIC and IJMP) and one Underperform (KLK). Our top picks remain upstream players like Genting Plantations and TH Plantations, as we believe the risks faced by more integrated players are rising, due to the new disadvantageous Indonesian export tax structure,” it said.



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KL shares close lower

Shares of the following companies had unusual moves in Malaysia trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses and prices are as of the close in Kuala Lumpur.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index fell 0.6 per cent to 1,504.22, its second day of declines.

Plantation stocks: Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd gained 2.2 per cent to RM23.50, a record close. IJM Plantations Bhd advanced 3.9 per cent to RM2.96, its highest close since April 29. Kulim Malaysia Bhd climbed 2.3 per cent to RM4.42, a record.

The March-delivery palm oil contract advanced 1.6 per cent to RM3,225 per metric ton on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange yesterday, the highest close since Nov. 18. It traded at RM3,220 at 5:08 p.m. today.

Property stocks: Mah Sing Group Bhd lost 7.1 per cent to RM1.95, the most since Sept. 13. UEM Land Holdings Bhd slid 6.3 per cent to RM2.23, its steepest decline since Sept. 26.

Malaysia’s property industry was downgraded to “trading buy” from “overweight” by CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, which cited concerns economic growth will slow this year. UEM Land was cut to “neutral” and Mah Sing was downgraded to “trading buy,” CIMB analyst Terence Wong wrote in a report.

YTL Power International Bhd, a power producer, added 1.1 per cent to RM1.85, its highest close since Dec. 8. UBS AG upgraded the stock to “neutral” from “sell” following a 29 per cent drop in its share price since November 2010, Nicole Goh, an analyst at UBS, wrote in a report. She also raised the stock’s price estimate to RM1.90 from RM1.75. -- Bloomberg




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IJM Corp registers lower Q2 pre-tax profit

IJM Corp Bhd's pre-tax profit for the second quarter ended Sept 30, 2011 fell to RM161 million from RM194 million in the same quarter 2010.

Revenue rose to RM1,097 million from RM785 million, the company said in a filing to Bursa Malaysia today.

In a separate filing, IJM Land Bhd said its pre-tax profit for the second quarter rose to RM57 million from RM41 million on a higher revenue of RM294 million from RM212 million.

The better results were mainly due to improved work progress from the group's on-going projects as well as the completion of the sale of some commercial land parcels in Seremban 2 in the immediate preceeding quarter, it said.

Meanwhile, IJM Plantations Bhd's pre-tax profit for the second quarter fell to RM62 million from RM64 million though revenue increased to RM180 million from RM133 million. -- Bernama



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No respite for KLCI as Asian markets falter

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 24): The FBM KLCI extended its losses in early trade on Thursday in line with the overnight slump at Wall Street and the weaker opening at key regional markets.

Asian shares fell on Thursday and the euro struggled close to a seven-week low to the dollar after a botched German bond sale raised alarm that Europe's ever-worsening sovereign debt crisis is starting to affect even the continent's economic powerhouse, according to Reuters.

The FBM KLCI fell 4.13 points to 1,429.04 at 9.10am, weighed by losses at key blue chips.

Losers led gainers by 153 to 75, while 108 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 90.84 million shares valued at RM29.27 million.

Among the early decliners were BAT, Petronas Dagangan, MISC, KNM, UMW, Faber, Sime Darby, Genting, AirAsia and IJM PLANTATION []s.



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