Wednesday, April 6, 2011

FBM KLCI extends losses at mid-morning

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI extended its losses on Wednesday, April 6 in cautious trade, while key regional markets were mixed following the lackluster overnight close at Wall Street, as well as China's move to raise interest rates.

At mid-morning, the FBM KLCI fell 2.11 points to 1,550.96.

Losers led gainers by 234 to 211, while 249 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 311.92 million shares valued at RM255.75 million.

The yen fell as the Bank of Japan began a meeting on Wednesday that may signal its readiness to further loosen monetary policy to support the earthquake-hit economy and Asian stocks were muted after an interest rate rise in China, according to Reuters.

Brent crude oil eased from a two-and-a-half year high struck amid war in Libya and unrest in the Middle East and gold sat just below a record scaled in the previous session, it said.

At the regional markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.21% to 9,594.99 and South Korea's Kospi lost 0.23% to 2,125.54.

The Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.69% to 2,987.76, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 0.16% to 24,188.46, Taiwan's Taiex jumped 1.16% to 8,806.45 and Singapore's Straits Times Index edged up 0.03% to 3,147.63.

BIMB Securities Research said Wall Street closed almost unchanged yesterday in less-than-sanguine trading momentum dented by the outcome of The Fed meeting.

Investors were concerned with the few signs that the Fed showed in making changes to the stimulus package, it said.

Of a consolation, however, all the committee acknowledged that the economy had indeed revealed signs of improving, it said.

The research house the committee nevertheless were split whether to tighten or not credit in order to ward off inflation, which many believe may rear its ugly head soon.

'Inflationary pressure could lead to the upward revision in interest rate which could in turn lead to the strengthening in US dollar and hence, could puncture the commodity prices, which have been steadily rising.

'Given the less-than-encouraging trading momentum in Wall Street, expect the local and regional market to mirror its performance today,' it said in a note April 6.

Panasonic was the top loser at mid-morning and fell 60 sen to RM22; Petronas Dagangan lost 12 sen to RM16.38, CIMB and Ta Ann fell nine sen each to RM8.25 and RM6.59, SapuraCrest, MBSB and Kimlun fell six sen each to RM3.82, RM2.26 and RM1.89 respectively, while KAF and Jaya Tiasa fell five sen each to RM1.40 and RM6.40.

MAA was the most actively traded counter with 31.5 million shares done. The stock added 13 sen to RM1.11.

Other actives included Kurnia Asia, ManagePay Systems, Fitters, Fotronics and Berjaya Food.

Among the gainers, Shell added 18 sen to RM10.98, MHC 17 sen to RM2.27, APM Automotive and Carlsberg 11 sen each to RM5.20 and RM7.50, Berjaya Media 9.5 sen to 66.5 sen, Hong Leong Bank nine sen to RM9.99 and MPHB eight sen to RM2.84.

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