Friday, March 4, 2011

FBM KLCI stays firmly higher at mid-morning

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI opened firmly higher on Friday, March 4 in line with key regional markets following the strong overnight close at Wall Street, where US stocks jumped on upbeat economic data and expectations of strong employment growth.

At the regional markets, shares in Tokyo and Seoul rose by more than 1% following strong gains in US stocks as players bet on positive data due later on Friday that will underscore a steady improvement in the world's largest economy.

The broader MSCI index of Asia-ex Japan stocks was up more than 1% extending its weekly gains to more than 2%, it said.

The FBM KLCI made one of its strongest gains in recent weeks and was up 1.01% or 15.22 points to 1,522.10 at mid-morning, lifted by gains at blue chips including KLK, BAT, DiGi and Petronas Dagangan.

Gainers led losers by 445 to 52, while 164 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 246/4 million shares valued at RM304.56 million.

At the regional markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1.56% to 10,751.37, South Korea's Kospi gained 0.97% to 1,989.82, Singapore's Straits Times Index added 1.04% to 3,069.08, Taiwan's Taiex was up 0.75% to 8,803.58, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.23% to 2,909.68 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index opened 1.4% higher at 23,436.15.

Maybank Investment Bank Bhd head of retail research and chief chartist Lee Cheng Hooi in a note to clients on March 4 said he expects the index to remain in a minor rebound mode in the short term and very bearish in the medium term.

Lee suggested that clients liquidate on rallies and remain more in cash.

'Due to the DJIA's firm tone last night, we will see the FBM KLCI in an initial gap-up mode today, with subsequent profit-taking emerging before the weekend.

'As the market revisited 1,474 recently, the FBM KLCI index traced out a nasty Head & Shoulders topping pattern. Any low volume rebound moves will allow investors to sell on rallies,' he said.

Among the major gainers, Nestle was up 84 sen to RM46.28, KLK 66 sen to RM21.16, BAT 56 sen to RM49.30, DiGi 52 sen to RM27.62, PetDag and PPB 26 sen each to RM14.28 and RM17.32, YTL 24 sen to RM7.41 and MISC 22 sen to RM7.98.

Losers included Nakamichi, Genome, Parkson, Kenmark, Al-Aqar and United Malacca.

Tanco was the most actively traded counter with 12.6 million shares done. The stock rose one sen to 35 sen. Other actives included HWGB, Olympia, SAAG and CIMB.

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