Thursday, August 18, 2011

KLCI bucks the trend among regional markets

KUALA LUMPUR: The BM KLCI bucked the trend among the key regional markets and closed higher on Thursday, Aug 18, spurred by a late surge in buying activities.

European equities followed Asian stocks lower on Thursday as investors fretting about the global growth outlook cut exposure to riskier assets, while the Swiss franc fell on talk the central bank was intervening in the forwards market, according to Reuters.

Nagging worries about the U.S. economy and dim prospects of a quick fix for the euro zone's debt crisis prompted investors to lock in profits following this week's rally in European stocks to one-week highs, it said.

The FBM KLCI edged up 0.23 point to 1,503.30, lifted by gains at select blue chips.

The broader market was weaker with 445 losers, 265 gainers and 308 counters unchanged. Volume was 860.56 million shares valued at RM1.71 billion.

At the regional markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.25% to 8,943.76, South Korea's Composite Index lost 1.7% to 1,860.58, Taiwan's Taiex declined 1.64% to 7,614.97, the Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.61% to 2,559.47, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index down 1.34% to 20,016.27 and Singapore's Straits Times Index shed 0.13% to 2,824.96.

On Bursa Malaysia, PPB was the top gainer and added 32 sen to RM17.50; Metrod rose 30 sen to RM3.70, UMW 22 sen to RM7.45, BAT, MISC, Lafarge Malayan Cement and Tradewinds PLANTATION []s added 20 sen each to RM44.20, RM7.30, RM7.30 and RM3.49 respectively, while Aeon and MAHB rose 15 sen each to RM7.15 and RM6.65.

Esso was the top loser and fell 92 sen to RM4.03 after the initial euphoria over San Miguel's offer to buy a controlling 65% stake from ExxonMobil International Holdings Inc in the company fizzled out following its disappointing offer of RM3.50 per share.

Tenaga lost 15 sen to RM5.73, Panasonic and WCT lost 12 sen each to RM23.80 and RM2.72, QSR, Inno and HELP fell 11 sen each to RM5.99, RM1.28 and RM2.11, while BDB and Ann Joo were down 10 sen each to RM1.08 and RM2.64.

MAA was the most actively traded counter with 27.7 million shares done. The stock added five sen to 61 sen.

Other actives included DVM, Axiata, Petronas Chemicals, Kurnia Asia, Esso and AirAsia.

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