Monday, July 19, 2010

Most markets in the red

KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips closed lower on Monday, July 19, tracking the losses in key regional markets as investors turned wary about the outlook for the US economy while sentiment took a further hit after Moody's cut Ireland's credit
rating.

Other Southeast Asian markets including Singapore, Jakarta and Manila also fell to around a one-week low. However, Thailand eked out slim gains on selective buying of stocks focused on the domestic economy and Vietnam was slightly higher.

The FBM KLCI closed 3.3 points down at 1,333.35. Turnover was 848.63 million shares valued at RM1.33 billion.

The major decliners were PPB Group, which fell 28 sen to RM17.12 while KL Kepong gave up 14 sen to RM16.26 and Far East 10 sen to RM6.60.

Other decliners were Hexagon, down a hefty 24 sen to 75 sen, while Top Glove gave up 14 sen RM7.08. Naim shed 13 sen to RM3.17, Parkson and SP Setia 10 sen each to RM5.45 and RM4.06 respectively.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Credit Suisse touted Thailand, along with South Korea and China, as the most attractive markets in Asia outside Japan.

The Thai SET index has gained 13.05 percent so far this year, Southeast Asia's second-best performer. It traded at the
second cheapest valuation in Southeast Asia at 10.9 times forward price to earnings, ahead of Vietnam's 10.8, according
to Thomson Reuters StarMine.

Property shares outperformed in Bangkok amid optimism over the recovery in the economy, with investors undeterred by the
central bank's modest 25 basis point increase in interest rates last week from a record low of 1.25 percent.

Foreign investors bought Philippine shares on Monday, but they sold Vietnam and Indonesia, with Jakarta suffering net
foreign selling of US$14.08 million after eight straight sessions of buying, Thomson Reuters data showed.

Indonesia has enjoyed net inflows of US$1.07 billion so far this year, compared with US$496 million in the Philippines. As of Friday, Thailand had recorded net foreign outflows of US$543 million.

Commodity stocks in the region were out of favour on Monday, with palm PLANTATION [] stocks tracking weakness in palm
oil prices and as crude oil eased.

Banks led losers in Jakarta, with state lender Bank Mandiri, second-biggest Bank Rakyat Indonesia and third biggest
Bank Central Asia all losing more than 1 percent.




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