Tuesday, April 12, 2011

FBM KLCI pares down losses at mid-morning

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI pared down some of its losses at mid-morning on Tuesday, April 12 as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak made a slew of announcements in his keynote address at Invest Malaysia 2011, including the listing of Felda Global Ventures Holdings' sugar business on Bursa Malaysia by July this year.

However, the measures announced appeared to have minor impact on the broader market as external factors seemed to weigh on investor sentiment.

At 10.30am, the index was down by 8.59 points to 1,535.41. It had earlier fallen to a low of 1,531.99 in early trade in line with key regional markets that skidded on the back of the slump at Japan's Nikkei 225 as well as the weaker overnight close at Wall Street.

Losers led gainers by 294 to 203, while 224 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 275 million shares valued at RM319.75 million.

At the regional markets, investor sentiment was dampened by events in Japan, with the country raising the severity of its nuclear disaster the highest level.

Japan raised the severity of its nuclear disaster to the highest level on Tuesday, putting it on a par with the world's worst disaster nuclear accident at Chernobyl after another major aftershock rattled the quake-ravaged east, according to Reuters.

Also, Tokyo stocks slipped for a second straight session on Tuesday, as investors sold off blue-chip exporters including car and electronics makers, on the view that the post-quake rebound has been too rapid and they could not fully price in the impact of the disaster that struck Japan on March 11, said Reuters.

The Nikkei 225 fell 1.6% to 9,563.93, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 1.38% to 23,968.04, Taiwan's Taiex fell 1.67% to 8,732.05, South Korea's Kospi fell 1.03% to 2,100.46, Singapore's Straits Times Index was down 0.86% to 3,133.17 and the Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.23% to 3,105.69.

On Bursa Malaysia, BAT was the top loser at mid-morning and fell down 74 sen to RM47.26; Genting lost 16 sen to RM10.94, UAC 12 sen to RM3.30, Jerasia and Petronas Chemicals 11 sen each to 23 sen and RM7.18, Fibon, PPB and EON Capital 10 sen each to 60 sen, RM16.88 and RM7.01 respectively, HELP down nine sen to RM2.60 and Vitrox down eight sen to RM1.81.

MAA was actively traded after the company said it had applied to Bank Negara for approval to dispose of its insurance business to Zurich Insurance Company Ltd.

MAA gained five sen to RM1.41 with 14.6 million share done.

Gainers included Shell, HLFG, Boustead, Petronas Gas, Hartalega and Mudajaya.

Notion VTec shares rose after thecompany said its controlling shareholders had been approached by a party indicating their intention to acquire the entire business/equity interests in the company.

Notion was was up 10 sen to RM2.29.

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