Friday, June 18, 2010

Asian markets up at mid-morning

KUALA LUMPUR: Asian markets advanced on Wednesday, June 16 on the back of the overnight rally at Wall Street after successful debt sales by some of the weakest euro-zone members.

US stocks climbed more than 2%, with the S&P 500 turning positive for the year as solid demand for Irish and Spanish government debt calmed investors' nerves a day after Moody's downgraded Greece's credit rating to junk status, according to Reuters.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 213.88 points, or 2.10%, to 10,404.77. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index advanced 25.60 points, or 2.35%, to 1,115.23. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 61.92 points, or 2.76%, to 2,305.88.

Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose about 2% in early trade to top 10,000 for the first time in a month.

At mid-morning, the Nikkei 225 added 1.55% to 10,040.92, the South Korean Kospi up 0.35% to 1,695.91, Australia's ASX 200 gained 1.04% to 4.552.10 while the Singapore Straits Times Index rose 0.92% to 2,844.25.

At Bursa Malaysia, the FBM KLCI added 8,85 points to 1,307.22, lifted by gains including at CIMB, Genting, Maybank, IJM Corp and Tenaga.

Gainers outnumbered losers 251 to 64, while 133 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 107.72 million shares valued at RM127.59 million.

Maybank Investment Bank Bhd head of retail research and chief chartist Lee Cheng Hooi in a note to clients on Wednesday advised local investors to trade on an intra-day basis only and not hold onto stocks for the longer term.

Swift profit-taking activities could set in, he said.

"A recent typical market action that we have noted is that the FBM KLCI trades with a positive (or negative) range of two points.

"Also, any large rise in the overnight American market normally yields an initial rise (gap-up) in the Malaysian bourse. The next typical intra-day action is a softer tone due to profit taking," said Lee.

Among the major gainers at mid-morning, CIMB rose 18 sen to RM7.07, Genting five sen to RM7.22, while Maybank, IJM Corp and Tenaga added three sen each to RM7.49, RM4.85 and RM8.34, respectively.

Other gainers included Genting PLANTATION []s, PLUS Expressways, Supermax, United Malacca and Shell.

DFZ Capital was the top loser and fell 32 sen, LPI Capital down 16 sen to RM15.16, Tanjong fell four sen to RM17.26 while Mah Sing lost two sen to RM1.70.

ADVANCE INFORMATION MARKETING [] was the most actively traded stock with 10.12 million shares done. The counter added half a sen to 14.5 sen.

Other actives included CIMB, Kumpulan Europlus, Talam, Kenmark, Berjaya Corp and Saag.


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