Tuesday, December 28, 2010

FBM KLCI stays in the black, but pares down gains at mid-day

KUALA LUMPUR:'' The FBM KLCI stayed in positive territory at the mid-day break on Tuesday, Dec 24, lifted by gains at banking stocks and key blue chips.

However, the benchmark index pared down a chunk of its gains from earlier in the morning in line with the overall tepid investor sentiment at key regional markets.

Stocks in Japan and China eased amid concerns that further Chinese monetary tightening will cool the engine of world economic growth, according to Reuters.

The timing of China's Christmas Day interest rate rise may have surprised but the move itself did not, with Chinese leaders pledged to make fighting inflation a priority in 2011, it said.

World shares mostly fell on Monday in response to the move, as investors fretted that tighter monetary policy would moderate the growth that many are relying on to support the global economic recovery, said Reuters.

On Bursa Malaysia, the FBM KLCI was up 0.59% or 8.92 points to 1,520.64 at the mid-day break. It had earlier in the morning risen to 1,525.99, its highest level since Dec 9 this year.

Gainers led losers by 325 to 284, while 289 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 431.26 million shares valued at RM506.87 million.

The ringgit strengthened 0.08% to 3.0925 versus the US dollar; crude palm oil for the third month delivery rose RM16 per tonne to RM3,772, crude oil added six cents per barrel to US$91.06 while gold jumped US$7.28 per troy ounce to US$1,391.03.

At the regional markets, the Shanghai Composite Index slumped 1.33% to 2,744.41, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.97% to 22,612.12, Taiwan's Taiex lost 0.50% to 8,847.42, and Japan's Nikkei 225 down 0.46% to 10,308.74.

Meanwhile, South Korea's Kospi added 0.78% to 2,037.98 and Singapore's Straits Times Index gained 0.27% to 3,167.90.

On Bursa Malaysia, banks were among the major gainers, with Public Bank adding 16 sen to RM12.96, AMMB up 13 sen to RM7.08, CIMB gaining 12 sen to RM8.69 and Maybank up four sen to RM8.53.

DiGi rose 30 sen to RM25.20, Hap Seng added 28 sen to RM6.51, Petronas Dagangan rose 24 sen to RM11.94, Fima Corp up 22 sen to RM6.36, Amway added 19 sen to RM8.30, The Store and PPB up 18 sen each to RM2.60 and RM16.94, Adventa up 14 sen to RM2.48 while Genting rose 12 sen to RM10.92.

Tejari was the most actively traded counter with 30.5 million shares done. The stock fell half a sen to 19.5 sen. Other actives included Petra Perdana, IRCB, Compugates, Berjaya Corp, Hubline and Focus.

Losers included Nestle, Panasonic, Tradewinds, UAC and Bernas.


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