Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Late buying props up KLCI, broader market cautious

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI clawed back on Wednesday, Feb 16 to close higher and extend its gains, albeit marginally, lifted by select blue chips including IOI Corp, Axiata, BAT and Hong Leong Bank in late trade.

Regional markets mostly rose on Wednesday on optimism about a strong outlook for corporate earnings, while expectations for higher interest rates in the UK lifted sterling and the euro gained against the dollar on sovereign demand, according to Reuters.

The FBM KLCI closed 0.06% or 0.97 point higher at 1,506.30. The index had earlier slipped to its intra-day low of 1,495.43. Gainers trailed losers by 342 to 493, while 259 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 1.88 billion shares valued at RM2.03 billion.

At the regional markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped 1.12% to 23,156.97, the Shanghai Composite Index added 0.85% to 2,923.90, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.57% to 10,808.29, Singapore's Straits Times Index gained 0.46% to 3,094.72 while South Korea's Kospi fell 1.06% to 1,989.11 and Taiwan's Taiex lost 0.10% to 8,712.96.

Among the gainers on Bursa Malaysia, IOI Corp rose 13 sen to RM5.71, boosting to FBM KLCI by 2.05 points, after its net profit rose 12.8% to RM520.24 million in the second quarter ended Dec 31, 2010 from RM461.21 million a year ago.

IOI Corp declared an interim single tier tax-exempt dividend of 80% or 8.0 sen per ordinary share of 10 sen each for the financial year ending June 30, 2011.

Axiata and Petronas Chemicals added four sen each to RM4.99 and RM6.10, BAT up 76 sen to RM47, Hong Leong Bank 17 sen to RM9.40, Petronas Dagangan 26 sen to RM12.50, YTL Corp seven sen to RM7.73 and MISC six sen to RM8.30.

Other gainers included Kulim, Malaysia Marine & Heavy Engineering, Hartalega, MAHB and Mamee.

Banking stocks were among'' the major decliners, with CIMB and Public Bank down 10 sen each to RM8.10 and RM13, Maybank seven sen to RM8.47 and AMMB three sen to RM6.24.

Other losers included Bintulu Port, GABm HPI, IGB, BLD PLANTATION []s, Malaysia Smelting Corp, Masterskill, Dayang Enterprise and Hirotako.

Actives included Jotech, Karambunai, Lion Corp, Tanco and Ramunia.

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