Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Weaker China data spooks already jittery Asian markets

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 23): The FBM KLCI extended its losses at the mid-day break on Wednesday in line with the fall at key regional markets as a weak Chinese manufacturing survey spooked already jittery investor sentiment.

The HSBC flash manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI), the earliest indicator of China's industrial activity, slumped in November to 48, a low not seen since March 2009, according to Reuters.

The FBM KLCI fell 10.95 points to 1,427.04 at 12.30pm, weighed by losses including at Genting and Tenaga

Market breadth was negative with losers leading gainers by 485 to 153, while 218 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 724.34 million shares valued at RM498.78 million.

The ringgit weakened 0.21% to 3.1818 versus the US dollar; crude palm oil futures for the third month delivery fell RM7 per tonne to RM3,168, crude oil lost US$1.41 per barrel to US$96.60 while gold rose US$7.13 an ounce to US$1,706.95.

At the regional markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.85% to 17,913.47, South Korea's Kospi lost 2.01% to 1,789.59, Taiwan's Taiex was down 1.97% to 6,861.98, Singapore's Straits Times Index fell 1.49% to 2,676.73 and the Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.32% to 2,404.80.

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

On Bursa Malaysia, KLK was the top loser this morning and fell 40 sen to RM20.60; Genting lost 20 sen to RM10.02, Lafarge Malayan Cement, Harvest Court and IJM Corp fell 19 sen each to RM6.40, 77.5 sen and RM5.61 respectively, Triplc lost 18 sen to 52 sen, AirAsia 16 sen to RM3.51, Tenaga 14 sen to RM5.40 while HLFG was down 12 sen to RM10.96.

Among the gainers, Panasonic added 20 sen to RM19.80, GAB 16 sen to RM10.78, Cycle & Carriage 14 sen to RM3.14, JobStreet 12 sen to RM2.48, Harrisons 10 sen to RM3.48, MBF Holdings 7.5 sen to 91 sen, HDBS seven sen to RM2.37, while BHIC and Ekovest rose six sen each to RM2.81 and RM2.61.

Meanwhile, the actives included Sumatec, Compugates, KNM, TMS, DPS Resources and Tiger Synergy.

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