Wednesday, November 16, 2011

KLCI slips into red as Asian markets retreat

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 16): The FBM KLCI slipped into negative territory at the mid-day break on Wednesday, Nov 16 as key Asian markets sank on fears of a contagion effect from the eurozone.

Asian shares and the euro fell on Wednesday as signs that rising borrowing costs were affecting AAA-rated France stirred fears that even core euro zone members may not escape contagion from the region's debt crisis, according to Reuters.

The political outlook remained unclear in struggling Italy and Greece as they attempt to push through severe austerity measures needed to get bail-out funds and win market confidence. Prime Minister designate Mario Monti was expected to unveil Italy's new government on Wednesday, it said.

The FBM KLCI was down shed 0.34 of a point to 1,476.88 at 12.30pm. Losers overtook gainers by 421 to 241, while 294 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 1.24 billion shares valued at RM706.41 million.

The ringgit weakened 0.47% to 3.1651 versus the US dollar; crude palm oil futures for the third month delivery fell RM10 per tonne to RM3,168, crude oil lost 67 cents per barrel to US$98.70 while gold fell US$11.97 an ounce to US$1,768.85.

At the regional markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.94% to 18,973.07, the Shanghai Composite Index lost 1.73% to 2,486.12, Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 0.76% to 8,476.62, Taiwan's Taiex fell 0.79% to 7,431.90, South Korea's Kospi lost 0.62% to 1,874.47 and Singapore's Straits Times Index shed 0.50% to 2,797.52.

On Bursa Malaysia, Harvest Court was the top loser when it resumed trade this morning after it Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd had on Monday declared the securities counter as a designated counter.

Bursa Securities' decision to designate the securities of Harvest and the warrants due to excessive speculation observed in the trading of both securities and has been taken in the interest of ensuring a fair and orderly market.

Harvest Court fell 63 sen to RM1.50 while its warrants lost 54 sen to RM1.27.

Other decliners included Shell that fell 24 sen to RM7.55, Manulife and Petronas Chemicals down 18 sen each to RM2.77 and RM6.22, SYF Resources 11.5 sen to 63.5 sen, Nilai and KLK 10 sen each to RM1.40 and RM20.98, while Lafarge Malayan Cement lost nine sen to RM6.78.

Among the gainers, Dutch Lady added 50 sen to RM22.30, Proton up 33 sen to RM3.54, DiGi 22 sen to RM34.84, TDM 20 sen to RM3.18, Carlsberg 18 sen to RM7.23, Bumi Armada 16 sen to RM3.99, Tradewinds 14 sen to RM9.07, Maybank 13 sen to RM8.40, Aeon Credit 12 sen to RM5.68 and Parkson nine sen to RM5.74.

Compugates was the most actively traded counter with 66.98 million shares done. The stock added half a sen to 8 sen.

Other actives included Tiger Synergy, Asia EP, DPS Resources, Ingenuity Solutions, Tricubes and Systech.

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