Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Markets off to cautious start in November

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 1): Markets kicked off the first trading day of November on a cautious note, with most key regional bourses in the red, as investors worried about a slowdown in global economy and slow progress in the European debt crisis.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI fell 8.01 points or 0.54% to 1,438.88. Turnover was 584.83 million shares valued at RM501.86 million. There were 193 gainers, 394 losers and 241 stocks unchanged.

Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.19% to 8,881.02, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index 1.41% to 19,584.69 and Singapore's Straits Times index 0.66% to 2,836.93.

US light crude oil fell 79 cents to US$92.40, crude palm oil futures for third month delivery shed RM8 to RM2,945 per tonne. The ringgit weakened to 3.1013 to the US dollar.

OSK Research, in its market outlook, said for November, given the previous month's sharp rally, it expects some pullback in global markets with Malaysia being no exception.

'Barring the announcement of a General Election, we remain Defensive on the Malaysian market and would advocate a Buy if the KLCI retraces towards 1,300 while we could call a Sell on the market if it rises towards the 1,533. Neutral for now with defensive Top 5 Buys all maintained,' it said.

Genting was the top loser, down 24 sen to RM10.52, dragging the KLCI down 2.05 points while CIMB fell nine sen to RM7.48, pushing the index down another 1.55 points.

LPI fell 22 sen to RM13, Panasonic Malaysia 22 sen also to RM19,48, Bursa 12 sen to RM6.67, AirAsia 11 sen to RM3.79 and Petronas Chemicals 10 sen to RM6.35.

Maxbiz was the most active, up four sen to 13 se, with 29 million shares done, prompting query from Bursa Malaysia Securities.

MBSB added four sen to RM1.81, MBSB-WA three sen to 93.5 sen and MBSB-CA two sen to 17 sen after the strong set of third quarter results.

DiGi was the top gainer, adding 40 sen to RM32.10 as investors sought dividend stocks, F&N added 10 sen to RM17.10 while Jerneh Asia rose six sen to RM1.42 after it received a takeover offer from its major shareholder Kuok Brothers Sdn Bhd.

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