Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Regional markets pare down losses on bargain hunting

KUALA LUMPUR: Key regional markets, which were pummeled on Tuesday following the artillery exchange between the two Koreas, mostly rebounded slightly on Wednesday, Nov 24 as investors went bargain hunting for battered stocks.

On Bursa Malaysia, the FBM KLCI pared down its earlier losses and was up 1.87 points to 1,489.40 at 10am, lifted by gains including at YTL Corp, Digi, Genting and CIMB.

Gainers led losers by 258 to 247, while 208 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 270.59 million valued at RM421.24 million.

RHB Research Institute Sdn Bhd said the looming election talk, plus the multiple M&A announcements in the local market that have fuelled rising speculative activities in the local bourse for the past few weeks were not enough to deter selling pressure triggered by the strong selldown in the regional markets yesterday.

As a result, investors opted to trim down their holdings on the core bluechips, hence triggering the renewed selling pressure on counters like the banks in late trading yesterday, it said.

The research house said the FBM KLCI must recover to above the 40-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) today to avoid further selldown on the local bourse, technically.

Otherwise, it will ease towards the 1,450 trigger and threaten a major correction mode on the nearly 20-month rally, it said.

'However, in view of the fresh political tension in Korea peninsula, plus the nervousness on the possibility of further tightening measures from Beijing, sentiment is likely to turn into a 'sell' mode temporarily.

'On the upside, the immediate key level is at the 40-day SMA of 1,493, while downside is seen at 1,450,' it said in a note Nov 24.

At the regional markets, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.11% to 2,831.36, Singapore's Straits Times Index was up 0.56% to 3,143.88, Taiwan's Taiex added 0.04% to 8,332.03 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index opened 1% higher at 23,116.91.

Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 0.75% and South Korea's Kospi shed 0.76% to 1,914.37.

On Bursa Malaysia, Kulim was the top gainer at mid-morning and was up 28 sen to RM12.18; YTL Corp gained 11 sen to RM8.24, DiGi,, Parkson, KYM and KFC rose 10 sen each to RM24.52, RM5.71, RM2.13 and RM3.95 respectively, Genting up four sen to RM10.08 while CIMB added two sen to RM8.33.

Decliners included Sarawak Oil Palms, APM Automotive, Advanced Packaging, Ralco, ORK Property, MAHB and Padini.

The active stocks in early trade included IJM Land, Ho Wah Genting, Transmile, YTL Power, Maybank and Karambunai.


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