Thursday, October 7, 2010

FBM KLCI slips in the red at mid-morning

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI slipped into negative territory at mid-morning on Thursday, Oct 7, in line with the cautious sentiment across regional markets, following the slightly weaker overnight close at Wall Street.

At 10am, the 30-stock index was down 1.14 points to 1,478.47. Losers overtook gainers by 216 to 145, while 199 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 139.54 million shares valued at RM211.35 million.

The TECHNOLOGY [] sector dragged US stocks lower yesterday after Morgan Stanley downgraded some semiconductor companies on concern about a slowdown in Asian markets and profit-taking in sectors such as cloud computing, which have posted strong gains recently, according to Reuters.

At Wall Street, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 22.93 points, or 0.21%, to 10,967.65, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index inched down 0.78 of a point, or 0.07%, to 1,159.97 and the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 19.17 points, or 0.80%, to 2,380.66.

Some of the Asian stock markets which opened in the red this morning, however, reversed some of their losses as fresh data showed Australian employment surging past all expectations.

Australian firms hired a massive 55,800 full-time workers, reviving the risk of a hike in interest rates and lifting the local dollar toward a 27-year peak, according to Reuters.

Thursday's data showed a net 49,500 new jobs created in September, more than twice the market forecast.

The unemployment rate held steady at 5.1%, though only because the buoyant economy tempted a lot more people to look for work, said Reuters.

At the regional markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.12% to 9,702.76, Taiwan's Taiex was up 0.19% to 8,299.63, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index added 0.06% to 4,689.70 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index opened 0.5% higher at 22,996.73.

The South Korean Kospi fell 0.28% to 1,898.69 and Singapore's Straits Times Index shed 0.395 to 3,177.55. China's stock market is closed for a national holiday.

On Bursa Malaysia, among the major decliners were MISC and Latexx Partners that fell eight sen each to RM8.77 and RM2.70, Carlsberg and Supermax down seven sen each to RM5.20 and RM4.19, Petronas Dagangan down six sen to RM10.94 while Tanjung Offshore and Top Glove fell five sen each to RM1.81 and RM5.64.

Among the gainers, Nestle rose 30 sen to RM44.20, Padini was up 22 sen to RM5, Mudajaya up nine sen, APM Automotive and Mah Sing added eight sen each to RM4.85 and RM1.98, Kulim up seven sen to RM9.07 while Mamee and Aliran Ihsan Resources gained six sen each to RM3.61 and RM1.84.

Dialog was the most actively trade counter with 5.66 million shares done. The stock added three sen to RM1.16. Other actives included Karambunai, JCY International, Takaso, Time, Berjaya Corp and Hubline.


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