Friday, October 15, 2010

FBM KLCI down on profit taking

KUALA LUMPUR: Asian markets were mixed on Friday, Oct 15 while banking stocks and key blue chips on Bursa Malaysia fell on profit taking ahead of the tabling of Budget 2011 proposals at 4pm.

At the mid-day break, the 30-stock FBM KLCI lost 0.54% or 8.14 points, weighed by losses including at BAT, Petronas Gas, DiGi, CIMB, Maybank and AMMB.

The broader market was negative with losers leading gainers by 427 to 234, while 282 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 494.9 million shares valued at RM774.41 million.

The ringgit weakened 0.1% to 3.0860 versus the greenback; crude palm oil for the third month delivery rose RM25 per tonne to RM2,945, crude oil added six cents per barrel to US$82.75 and gold added five cents an ounce to US$1,381.20.

BAT was the top loser and fell 82 sen to RM47.70, on worries that the tobacco sector might be adversely affected by the 'sin taxes' .

Petronas Gas lost 42 sen to RM11.08, Digi fell 30 sen to RM24.50, Genting PLANTATION []s and CBIP fell 12 sen each to RM8.37 and RM3.56, Maybank fell 13 sen to RM8.89, AMMB down 11 sen to RM5.89, Shell down 10 sen to RM10.60 while CIMB lost seven sen to RM7.93.

Among the gainers, Batu Kawan added 90 sen to RM14.44, Nestle was up 30 sen to RM44.30, Hartalega added 17 sen to RM5.42, Malaysia Smelting Corp rose 16 sen to RM4.96 while Metrod and Fima Corp rose 10 sen each to RM3.60 and RM5.

Infortech, which was the most actively traded counter, was queried by Bursa Malaysia Securities over the unusually high volume traded. At 12.30pm, the stock fell 4.5 sen to 13.5 sen with 31.92 million shares done.

Other actives included Maybank, Cypark, Timecom, Kencana, Malton and Nam Fatt.

Meanwhile, Asian markets fluctuated ahead of US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's speech later on Friday that could provide clues on the Fed's next policy steps.

Movements at the regional markets were also pulled in different directions with news flow emanating from Japan and China, respectively.

On the one hand, Japan's industrial output fell 0.5 percent in August, revised data showed on Friday, down for the third straight month and adding to worries about an economy struggling with a rising yen and slowing export growth.

Meanwhile, Chinese property prices rose for this first time in four months in September, an indication that the market is ready to pounce on any let-up by the government in its crackdown on real estate speculation.

Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.01% to 9,486.58, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 0.40% to 23,757.11, Taiwan's Taiex fell 0.3% to 8,185.29 and the South Korean Kospi Index shed 0.02% to 1,899.35.

Meanwhile, the Shanghai Composite Index surged 1.65% to 2,927.25 and Singapore's Straits Times Index added 0.70% to 3,217.39.




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