Tuesday, June 21, 2011

FBM KLCI up at mid-day but gains limited

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI managed to eke out limited gains at the mid-day break on Tuesday, June 21 in line with the advance at key regional markets following the higher overnight close at Wall Street.

However, analysts said profit-taking may set in at the later part of the day as investor sentiment was bound to be weighed by the uncertainties surrounding the Greece's debt crisis.

Added to that was a statement by ratings agency Fitch that said on Tuesday it would place the US credit rating on watch negative if its debt ceiling is not raised by August 2, when the US Treasury has warned that it may not be able to borrow more.

Fitch Ratings also said that it would regard a voluntary rollover of Greece's sovereign bond maturities as a default and would cut the credit rating appropriately, keeping pressure on Athens ahead of a confidence vote in parliament, according to Reuters.

At the mid-day break, the FBM KLCI was up 0.15 point to 1,559.34, lifted by gains at select blue chips.

Market breadth, however, remained negative with losers leading gainers by 438 to 177, while 280 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 500.59 million shares valued at RM586.26 million.

The ringgit strengthened 0.24% to 3.0368 versus the US dollar; crude palm oil futures for the third month delivery rose RM14 per tonne to RM3,207, crude oil added 42 cents per barrel to US$93.68 while gold gained US$1.10 an ounce to US$1,541.80.

At the regional markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 0.41% to 9,392.61, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.32% to 21,668.23, the Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.22% to 2,626.98, Taiwan's Taiex was up 0.29% to 8,555.37, South Korea's Kospi added 0.31% to 2,025.92 and Singapore's Straits Times Index was up 0.67% to 3,033.83.

On Bursa Malaysia, HLFG was the top gainer this morning and was up 20 sen to RM13.20; BAT rose 14 sen to RM45.80, Panasonic, Lafarge Malayan Cement and PPB rose 12 sen each to RM24.62, RM7.48 and RM17.12 respectively, Sindora and Petronas Gas were up 10 sen each to RM1.80 and RM13, JT International and KPJ rose nine sen each to RM7.10 and RM4.62, while RHB Capital added eight sen to RM9.64.

MAA HOLDINGS BHD [] shares fell sharply in active trade after a detailed announcement on the divestment of its insurance business showed that at RM344 million, its assets were valued at barely 1.36 times book value.

The stock fell 30.5 sen to 72.5 sen with 52 million shares traded.

Other actives included Ingenuity Solutions, Timecom, Muhibah, Time, Axiata, Asia Media and Talam.

Among the decliners, Amway fell 25 sen to RM9.30, Nestle and KLK fell 20 sen each to RM47.80 and RM21.90, GAB 18 sen to RM10.02, UMS, Tradewinds and Petronas Dagangan were down 16 sen each to RM1.64, RM10.32 and RM15.78 respectively, Favelle Favco lost 15 sen to RM1.57 and Muhibbah fell 14 sen to RM1.39.

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