Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Asian markets fall on Mid-east tensions, KLCI down 12 pts at midday

KUALA LUMPUR: Asian markets fell sharply on Tuesday, Feb 22, racking up losses of between 1.3% to 2.47% at midday on concerns about the Middle East with rising tensions in Libya, while an earthquake in New Zealand weighed on Australian bankers and insurers.

The mood at the Asian markets was also dampened after Moody's Investor Services changed its outlook on the Japan's Aa2 sovereign rating to negative from stable on Tuesday, warning that government policies may not be enough to rein in the country's huge public debt.

The FBM KLCI fell 0.81% or 12.43 points to 1,513.42 at the mid-day break, weighed down by banking and PLANTATION [] stocks. The broader market was weak, with losers thumping gainers by 853 to 67, while 158 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 1.01 billion shares valued at RM936.59 million.

The ringgit weakened 0.48% to 3.0500 versus the greenback; crude palm oil gained RM1 per tonne to RM3,657, crude oil rose US$6.75 per barrel to US$92.95 while gold eased US$3.20 per troy ounce to US$1,403.25.

Airlines also suffered as crude oil prices soared on worries of a wider disruption in supplies from OPEC countries following the unrest in Libya. AirAsia fell 13 sen to RM2.63 and MAS lost six sen to RM2.02 on account of the rising crude oil prices.

Taiwan's Taiex -2.47% 8,621.25 Shanghai Composite Index -2.09% 2,871.05 South Korea Kospi -1.05% 1,966.13 Hang Seng Index -1.91% 23,036.26 Singapore's STI -1.34% 3,029.36 Nikkei 225 -1.80% 10,662.55 Australia's S&P/ASX 200 -0.88% 4,857.10 ''

On Bursa Malaysia, Maybank fell 15 sen to RM8.71, CIMB and Hong Leong Bank lost 10 sen each to RM8.17 and RM9.40, Public Bank down eight sen to RM13 while RHB Capital shed two sen to RM8.18.

Among plantations, Kulim fell 30 sen to RM15.20, Batu Kawan 22 sen to RM16, IOI'' Corp and PPB down 10 sen each to RM5.49 and RM16.76, Sime Darby four sen to RM9.18 while KLK fell two sen to RM21.50.

Other losers included Malayan Flour Mills, Tradewinds, UEM Land, Mudajaya, Naim and Keck Seng.

The top gainer was PetDag, up 30 sen to RM13.24 and PetDag-CA six sen to 89 sen. Plantations were among the gainers, with Far East up 20 sen to RM7.50, United Plantations 18 sen to RM16.70, TH Plantations six sen to RM1.96.

Litrak added six sen to RM3.60 while KLCCP rose five sen to RM3.50.

HWGB was the most actively traded counter with 39.6 million shares done. The stock fell half a sen to 64 sen. Other actives included SAAG, Ramunia, Olympia, Karambunai, Tanco and Jotech.

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