KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI succumbed to late selling pressure and extended its losses for the fourth consecutive day on Friday, Feb 25, as mild profit taking on blue chips sent the index lower.
Regional markets had mostly closed higher earlier on bargain hunting activities, on rumours that embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had been shot as well as on Saudi Arabia's reassurances that it could counter Libyan supply disruptions.
However, Saudi reassurances were not enough to calm jittery markets with analysts predicting that further rise in oil prices could trigger more selling in stocks and other risky assets, according to Reuters.
"When geopolitics in the Middle East are at play in the oil markets, all conventional bets on the direction of oil prices based on supply and demand fundamentals, or economic variables, are off," analysts at BNP Paribas said in a research note, Reuters said.
Stocks recovered smartly on Friday after heavy selling this week on hopes that a recent surge in prices may have been overdone, though traders said the situation was still too fluid to take any aggressive bets, it said.
On Bursa Malaysia, the FBM KLCI slipped 0.04% or 0.6 of a point to 1,489.27, dragged by losses including at Tenaga, Maybank, KLK and AMMB. Year-to-date, the FBM KLCI has fallen 1.95%.
Gainers led losers by 524 to 300, while 256 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 1.39 billion shares valued at RM1.79 billion.
At the regional markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped 1.82% to 23,012.37, Singapore's Straits Times Index rose 1.75% to 3,025.16, Japan's Nikkei 225 added 0.71% to 10,526.76, South Korea's Kospi rose 0.69% to 1,963.43, Taiwan's Taiex up 0.68% to 8,599.65, while the Shanghai Composite Index was little changed at 2,878.57.
Maybank Investment Bank Bhd head of retail research and chief chartist Lee Cheng Hooi reiterated that he expected FBM KLCI to remain volatile in the short term and very bearish in the medium term.
'We suggest that clients liquidate on rallies and remain more in cash, as there are very few price defensive counters.
'Due to the global market malaise recently, we will see the FBM KLCI in a much weaker posture today. We expect the market to remain weak as the foreign hedge fund money exits Malaysia,' he said, adding that the downturn could be a protracted one.
Lee said the next technical support levels were 1,445 and 1,474, while resistance levels were 1,489 and 1,544.
Among the major losers on the FBM KLCI, Tenaga fell 10 sen to RM6.29 and Maybank lost six sen to RM8.64. Together, the stocks shaved 2.28 points off the 30-stock index.
KLK fell 58 sen to RM20.20, AMMB 11 sen to RM6.19, Digi 20 sen to RM25.80, Maxis four sen to RM5.35, Hong Leong Bank seven sen to RM9.30 while MMC Corp lost three sen to RM2.73.
Gainers included Tradewinds, Shell, Paramount, BLD PLANTATION []s, MTD Capital, Carlsberg, APM Automotive, United Plantations and Hartalega.
Tanco was the most actively traded counter with 120.9 million shares done. The stock added six sen to 40 sen. Other actives included HWGB,'' Jotech, Karambunai, Olympia and Transmile.
Regional markets had mostly closed higher earlier on bargain hunting activities, on rumours that embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had been shot as well as on Saudi Arabia's reassurances that it could counter Libyan supply disruptions.
However, Saudi reassurances were not enough to calm jittery markets with analysts predicting that further rise in oil prices could trigger more selling in stocks and other risky assets, according to Reuters.
"When geopolitics in the Middle East are at play in the oil markets, all conventional bets on the direction of oil prices based on supply and demand fundamentals, or economic variables, are off," analysts at BNP Paribas said in a research note, Reuters said.
Stocks recovered smartly on Friday after heavy selling this week on hopes that a recent surge in prices may have been overdone, though traders said the situation was still too fluid to take any aggressive bets, it said.
On Bursa Malaysia, the FBM KLCI slipped 0.04% or 0.6 of a point to 1,489.27, dragged by losses including at Tenaga, Maybank, KLK and AMMB. Year-to-date, the FBM KLCI has fallen 1.95%.
Gainers led losers by 524 to 300, while 256 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 1.39 billion shares valued at RM1.79 billion.
At the regional markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped 1.82% to 23,012.37, Singapore's Straits Times Index rose 1.75% to 3,025.16, Japan's Nikkei 225 added 0.71% to 10,526.76, South Korea's Kospi rose 0.69% to 1,963.43, Taiwan's Taiex up 0.68% to 8,599.65, while the Shanghai Composite Index was little changed at 2,878.57.
Maybank Investment Bank Bhd head of retail research and chief chartist Lee Cheng Hooi reiterated that he expected FBM KLCI to remain volatile in the short term and very bearish in the medium term.
'We suggest that clients liquidate on rallies and remain more in cash, as there are very few price defensive counters.
'Due to the global market malaise recently, we will see the FBM KLCI in a much weaker posture today. We expect the market to remain weak as the foreign hedge fund money exits Malaysia,' he said, adding that the downturn could be a protracted one.
Lee said the next technical support levels were 1,445 and 1,474, while resistance levels were 1,489 and 1,544.
Among the major losers on the FBM KLCI, Tenaga fell 10 sen to RM6.29 and Maybank lost six sen to RM8.64. Together, the stocks shaved 2.28 points off the 30-stock index.
KLK fell 58 sen to RM20.20, AMMB 11 sen to RM6.19, Digi 20 sen to RM25.80, Maxis four sen to RM5.35, Hong Leong Bank seven sen to RM9.30 while MMC Corp lost three sen to RM2.73.
Gainers included Tradewinds, Shell, Paramount, BLD PLANTATION []s, MTD Capital, Carlsberg, APM Automotive, United Plantations and Hartalega.
Tanco was the most actively traded counter with 120.9 million shares done. The stock added six sen to 40 sen. Other actives included HWGB,'' Jotech, Karambunai, Olympia and Transmile.
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