Thursday, April 14, 2011

FBM KLCI slips at mid-morning

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI slipped into negative territory at mid-morning on Thursday, April 14 in line with most key regional markets following a lackluster overnight close at Wall Street.

Also, sentiment at the regional markets was weighed down by the on-going nuclear crisis in Japan as well as the various aftershocks that have hit that nation following the March 11 earthquake.

Japan's nuclear crisis sent corporate confidence plunging to a record low in April and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned the risk to the world's third largest economy is firmly on the downside, with no end in sight to its nuclear disaster, according to Reuters.

At 10am, the FBM KLCI fell 4.63 points to 1,530.96, dragged by losses including at BAT, Hong Leong Bank, KLK and PPB.

Losers beat gainers by 325 to 123, while 217 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 169.94 million shares valued at RM176.19 million.

At the regional markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.59% to 9,583.86, Hong Kongs' Hang Seng Index lost 0.69% to 23,967.48, Singapore's Straits Times Index fell 0.36% to 3,160.55, South Korea's Kospi was down 0.15% to 2,118.73 and the Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.11% to 3,046.97.

Meanwhile, Taiwan's Taiex edged up 0.05% to 8,784.39.

Maybank Investment Bank Bhd head of retail research and chief chartist Lee Cheng Hooi said that due to the DJIA's benign tone last night, the FBM KLCI would be in a quiet mode today, ahead of the Sarawak state election this Saturday.

A recent secondary high of 1,565.53 (4 April 2011) had been seen and a major downward retracement phase has now emerged, he said.

'Failure to hold above 1,529.41 on Tuesday implies a very bearish outlook for the FBM KLCI.

'Sell on any and every rebound rally that emerges,' he said in a note to clients on April 14.

On Bursa Malaysia, BAT was the top loser at mid-morning and fell 68 sen to RM47.32; Hong Leong Bank fell 22 sen to RM10.36, KLK 18 sen to RM20.82, PPB 12 sen to RM16.72, UMW, Kluang and MISC down nine sen each to RM7.24, RM2.60 and RM7.67 respectively, while HLFG and Asas lost eight sen each to RM9.31 and 92 sen.

E&O was the most actively traded counter with 8.36 million shares done. The stock added three sen to RM1.29.

Other actives included Iris, Tiger, HWGB, Alam Maritim, Masterskill, Melewar and Perisai.

Gainers included Allianz, Petronas Dagangan, Panasonic, F&N, KPJ, Top Glove and Aeon Credit.

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