KLCI hovers in negative territory at mid-morning

KUALA LUMPUR (May 9): The FBM KLCI hovered in negative territory at mid-morning on Wednesday in line with the overnight fall at Wall Street and weaker sentiment at regional markets, underpinned by global economic and political worries.

At 10.01am, the FBM KLCI fell 3.03 points to 1,587.57, weighed by select blue chips.

Gainers trailed losers by 132 to 234, while 219 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 237.19 million shares valued at RM17908 million.

Asian shares fell and the euro stayed pressured on Wednesday, as Greece struggled to form a government two days after elections, raising the risk that a hard-won bailout could be nullified, according to Reuters.

BIMB Securities Research in a note Wednesday said the conditions in Europe was ripe for traders to create some volatility in the equity markets and yesterday could be the beginning of the trend.

With the initial focus on Spain and now the political issues in France and Greece, investors may be in for a roller coaster ride this month, it said.

Reacting to the European uncertainty, the Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 76.44 points to 12,932 but off its intra-day low of 12,810, it said.

“Needless to say, European bourses took the brunt of yesterday’s selling as all ended up in a sea of red,” it said.

The research house said regional markets had a mixed session possibly from the weak opening in Europe amid the ongoing consolidation mode.

“Locally, the FBM KLCI rebounded by 5.73 points to just above the immediate 1,590 resistance at 1,590.60.

“For today, it will be interesting to gauge the resilience of investors whether they will all jump into the selling bandwagon. For us, we believe there will be some broad based knee jerk reaction and should pressure the FBM KLCI on the downside,” it said.

On Bursa Malaysia at mid-morning, F&N Fell and Petronas Dagangan fell 14 sen each to RM18.90 and RM19.80, Hong Leong Bank and Genting down 12 sen each to RM12.12 and RM10.54, Sarawak PLANTATION []s 11 sen to RM2.92, Rapid and IJM Corp 10 sen each to RM2.57 and RM5.44, while NPC, MAHB and Ajiya lost eight sen each to RM2.60, RM5.71 and RM1.60 respectively.

Permaju was the most actively traded counter with 25.7 million shares done. The stock rose 3.5 sen to 91 sen.

Other actives included Harvest Court, Naim Inda Corp,Perisai, Sanbumi, Metronic, Compugates, JCY and Komark.

Gainers included KGB, Tasek, Komark, KLK, Mercury, CIMB, SKB Shutters, Multico, Perisai and Permaju.



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KLCI reverses earlier losses at mid-day break

KUALA LUMPUR (May 3): The FBM KLCI managed to reverse some of its earlier losses at the mid-day break on Thursday and edged up, lifted by gains at select blue chips including AirAsia, BAT and RHB Capital.

The FBM KLCI added 0.41 of a point to 1,582.80 at the mid-day break.

Losers outpaced gainers by 314 to 234, while 318 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 779.26 million shares valued at RM479.15 million.

The ringgit weakened 0.14% to 3.0323 versus the greenback, crude palm oil futures for the third month delivery fell RM31 per tonne to RM3,404, crude oil shed 13 cents per barrel to US$105.09 while gold fell US$5.02 an ounce to US$1,648.48.

Meanwhile, Asian shares slipped on Thursday and the euro languished near a 2-week low after disappointing economic data from both sides of the Atlantic rekindled concerns about the strength of global growth.

Commodities and the Australian dollar - all sensitive to growth expectations - also struggled as the data put investors on the defensive and limited appetite for riskier assets.

At the regional markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.5% to 21,203.40, the Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.37% to 2,429.49, Taiwan’s Taiex was down 0.23% top7,659.09, South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.33% to 1,992.46 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index edged down 0.07% to 3,004.14.

On Bursa Malaysia, AirAsia was the top gainer at mid-day and rose 21 sen to RM3.54, Country View was up 19.5 sen to 84 sen, BAT 16 sen to RM55.20, Nestle and Takaful 12 sen each to RM55.50 and RM4.29, NPC 10 sen to RM2.78, Crest Builder 9.5 sen to RM1.02 and RHB Capital nine sen to RM7.50.

Utopia was the most actively traded counter with 59.68 million shares done. The stock fell half a sen to 7.5 sen.

Other actives included Naim Indah Corp, AirAsia, Ariantec, Metronic, Compugates, Daya Materials and JCY.

Decliners in the morning session included Dutch Lady, MAHB< Genting, Carlsberg, Pasdec, Delloyd, Rexit, Shelll and Sarawak PLANTATION []s.



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KLCI closes higher, boost from Eurozone but worries linger

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 9): The FBM KLCI extended its gains led by key blue chip stocks and positive sentiment from some developments in the Eurozone despite uncertainties from Italy.

The FBM KLCI rose 9.18 or 0.62% to close at 1,489.64, pushed up by key blue chip stocks including Axiata, Sime Darby and GENTING BHD []. Volume surged to 2.66 billion shares valued at RM1.808 billion. Gainers led losers 562 to 222, while 267 counters remained unchanged.

Key regional markets ended higher with Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closing 1.71% higher at 20,014.43, Japan's Nikkei 225 up 1.15% to 8,755.44, Shanghai Composite Index 0.84% to 2,524.92, South Korea's Kospi up 0.23% to 1,907.53. Only Singapore's Straits Index closed down 0.19% to 2,861.17.

Later in the day, European stocks dropped on Wednesday following a short-lived rally that had been sparked by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's pledge to step down, as simmering fears over the country's debt pile kept investors on edge.

Global lender HSBC featured among the biggest losers, down 4.7% after posting a drop in underlying profits, hurt by lower investment banking income and a surge in bad debts in the United States.

At Bursa Malaysia, KLCI-linked stocks which provided the support were Axiata, up 13 sen to RM4.96 to push the index 2.54 points. Sime Darby added 12 sen to RM8.92 adding 1.67 points to the index and Genting 14 sen to RM11 to add 1.20 points to the index.

Dr Nazri Khan, head of retail research at Affin Investment Bank said: "The market will be well supported in the next few weeks due to lags in the market."

He said the immediate support levels for the KLCI should be sustained at 1,500 by the end of the week with the next support level at 1,450 for the next few weeks.

Volume, he said, will remain huge, in excess of one billion shares traded in as investor confidence returns to the market after recent fragile sentiments.

Nazri said developments in the Eurozone and China will be a great boost for the index.

"Main catalysts for this upbeat trend is the absence of the Greek referendum, the future resignation of Italian President Berlusconi and the anticipation of an easing of monetary policy in China as a result of the lowest recorded inflation in five months," he added.

At Bursa Malaysia, top gainers included Dutch Lady up 50 sen to RM21.00, BAT 40 sen to RM46.60, United PLANTATION []s 30 sen to RM17.88, and both NPC and Panasonic Malaysia up 24 sen to RM2.22 and RM19.36 respectively.

"Professionally speaking, I think that certain (big cap) stocks are a bit expensive, maybe that is why investors have turned to penny stocks," Nazri said.

He added that between November till Chinese New Year (typicaly in February) especially in Chinese dominated indices like Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan, he has seen a keen interest from investors in penny stocks over this period. "It’s a sort of feel good factor," he added.

Harvest Court Industries rose 27 sen to fresh multi-year highs of RM1.45 and Harvest-WA 21 sen to RM1.26 in very active trade, prompting Bursa Securities to caution investors over the sharp increase in price and volume.

Emico jumped 19.5 sen to 39.5 sen and Emico-WA 23 sen to 30 sen in active trade. Hibiscus-WA added 5.5 sen to 47 sen with 161.97 million units done while the shares rose 19.5 sen to 39.5 sen.

Among top losers were Focus Lumber down 17 sen to 63 sen while F&N and Batu Kawan shed 8.0 sen each to RM17.44 and RM15.92 respectively.