Monday, September 13, 2010

FBM KLCI surges on fund buying

KUALA LUMPUR: Key Asian markets closed higher, notching gains of up to 2.55% on Monday, Sept 13 as new bank capital rules agreed by global regulators brought relief to the world's banks on Monday.

At Bursa Malaysia, the key index closed at its highest since Jan 17, 2008 as fresh positive news from the US, China and the stronger ringgit bolstered fund buying interest.

At 5pm, the FBM KLCI was up 19.18 points or 1.33% to 1,456.96. Turnover was 843.15 million shares valued at nearly RM2 billion. Advancing counters beat decliners 542 to 218 while 254 stocks were unchanged.

The ringgit strengthened to 3.1010 against the US dollar, but off its intraday high of 3.0971. Crude palm oil futures rose RM29 to RM2,652 per tonne while light crude oil added 83 cents to US$77.28.

Among key Asian markets, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.89% to 9,321.82, Hang Seng Index added 1.89% to 21,658.35, Shanghai Composite Index advanced 0.94% to 2,688.32 and Singapore's Straits Times Index 1.53% higher at 3,068.54.

Taiwan's Taiex was the best performer, up 2.55% to 8,091.30.

Positive news and the latest development in the Basel III regulations for banks also prompted fund buying of index-linked stocks like PPB and Bursa.

According to Reuters, the new requirements for bank capital rules, known as Basel III, will demand banks hold top-quality capital totalling 7% of their risk-bearing assets but a long lead-in time eased fears that lenders will have to rush to raise capital.

The new capital ratio will be a substantial increase from the current requirement of 2 percent, but is significantly lower than what banks had feared earlier this year and comes with a phase-in period extending in some cases to January 2019.

Meanwhile, Reuters said an HSBC survey showed on Monday that fund managers grew more bullish about Asian equities in the third quarter even though they were more cautious on Japan and China, suggesting the September rally has legs.

At Bursa, PPB jumped RM1.06 to RM17.90 in last minute buying surge while Panasonic Malaysia added 70 sen to RM21.20, Nestle 50 sen to RM42 and Bursa 31 sen to RM7.60.

MTD added 38 sen to RM5.30, UMCCA 36 sen to RM10.96, QSR 33 sen to RM4.73 and the warrants WB 32 sen to RM1.71 while Top Glove climbed 32 sen to RM6 and Loh Loh 30 sen to RM4.40.

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