Monday, August 8, 2011

KLCI down in early trade; OSK Research cuts KLCI target to 1,557

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI extended its losses in early trade on Monday, Aug 8 in line with key regional markets following the downgrade of the US credit by S&P.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's cut the U.S. long-term rating by one notch from AAA on Friday, capping a week that saw US$2.5 trillion wiped off companies' values amid worries the United States is sliding back into recession.

At 9.05am, the FBM KLCI lost 14.12 points to 1,510.31.

Market breadth was negative with 373 losers and 22 gainers, while 58 counters traded unchanged.

Among the early decliners were Tradewinds PLANTATION []s, Dutch Lady, HLFG, Batu Kawan, Genting, Ajinomoto, Supermax, Carlsberg and Aeon Credit.

OSK Research in a note Aug said it was downgrading the Malaysian market to Neutral, and said that with confidence already shaken by the spread of the European debt crisis to Italy, the downgrade of the US credit rating by S&P to AA+ could rattle markets enough so that the sell-off continues and makes further damage to the technical landscape.

While there was still hope for a recovery of confidence if a massive coordinated global response emerges, the markets may find it difficult to reclaim their recent highs anytime soon, it said.

'As such, we downgrade our KLCI 2012 fair value from 1,710 points to 1,466 points based on a change in the applied PER from 15.5x to 13x.

'This reduces our year end target to 1,557 points and we downgrade the Malaysian market to a NEUTRAL,' it said.

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