Wednesday, November 23, 2011

KLCI drifts lower at mid-morning, slips below 1,430-level

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 23): The FBM KLCI could not sustain its slim gains from a day earlier and fell at mid-morning on Wednesday, as investors stayed on the sidelines and blue chip stocks retreated.

Asian shares drifted lower on Wednesday, weighed down by mining and TECHNOLOGY [] stocks after a downward revision of US growth data raised new concerns about the faltering global economy, according to Reuters.

The FBM KLCI fell 9.47 points to 1,428.52 at 10am, weighed by losses including at Genting and KLK.

Losers edged gainers by 317 to 112, while 150 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 319.46 million shares valued at RM165.95 million.

At the regional markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.92% to 17,901.22, South Korea's Kospi lost 1.46% to 1,799.64, Taiwan's Taiex and Singapore's Straits Times Index were down 1.37% each respectively to 6,904.26 and 2,679.94, while the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.19% to 2,417.23.

Japan's Nikkei 225 is closed today to observe the Labour Thanksgiving holiday.

BIMB Securities Research in a note Nov 23 said the same old concerns over Europe's debt crisis and US' economic growth seemed unabated as investors continued to be affected by these despite recent efforts to alleviate the impacts.

At present, it seems investors prefer to dwell into the negatives than look at the positives amid prevailing volatilities, it said.

The research house said although yesterday's unveiling of the enhanced lending program to eradicate Europe's short term liquidity concerns by the IMF, this was only a temporary reprieve as many would look to sell into strength going forward.

The news did prop up the Dow Jones Industrial Average from intra-day low to close marginally below 11,500 (-53.59), it said.

BIMB Research said performance of regional markets were mixed on cautious mode taking cue from the bond movements in Europe as yields in Spain and Belgium continue to inch up.

'Similarly, the local bourse remained cautious with the FBM KLCI edging 3.91 points higher on a relatively quiet day.

'We expect some nibbling on stocks to continue today with the benchmark index to possibly test the 1,440 level,' it said.

Among the losers on Bursa Malaysia, KLK fell 40 sen to RM20.60, Harvest Court lost 21.5 sen to 75 sen, Nestle and Triplc down 20 sen each to RM50 and 50 sen, IJM Corp 17 sen to RM5.36, Hong Leong Bank and Genting down 16 sen each to RM10.18 and RM10.06, AirAsia 15 sen to RM3.52 and HLFG 14 sen to RM10.94.

Sumatec was the most actively traded counter with 44.8 million shares done. The stock gained half a sen to 28.5 sen.

Other actives included Compugates, Sanichi, PDZ, TMS, KNM and Tiger Synergy.

Gainers at mid-morning included Cycle & Carriage, Amtel, Tradewinds, JobStreet, SOP, HDBS, MAHB, Batu Kawan, Harrisons and YTL Cement.

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