Business

Published: Friday November 13, 2009 MYT 2:34:00 PM

Asian markets mostly down at midday

By Laalitha Hunt


KUALA LUMPUR: Most Asian stocks declined led by BHP Billiton Ltd and PetroChina Co while bonds climbed as oil prices fell on concern the global economic recovery will falter. According to Bloomberg, crude oil tumbled as U.S. stockpiles rose more than economists had forecast.

Prices had more than doubled from a five-year low reached in December as stimulus measures helped pull the global economy out of the worst slump since the Great Depression.

“Lower commodity prices illustrate anxiety about the economy,” said Kiyoshi Ishigane, a strategist in Tokyo at Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co, which oversees about US$56bil.

At home, the benchmark KLCI was 0.06% lower at 1,271.02 while Singapore’s Straits Times Index declined 0.48% to 2,713.15.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.18% to 9,786.43, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.11% to 22,421.77, Shanghai’s A share index dropped 0.92% to 3,143.77 and Seoul’s Kospi Index was 0.44% lower at 1,565.88.

At Bursa Malaysia, 212 counters were up, 296 were down while 256 others were traded unchanged. There were 393.3 million shares done with a total value of RM465.342mil.

Losers include Shell, which lost 10 sen to RM10.70, HaiO dropped 10 sen to RM7.85 and Petronas fell 9 sen to RM9.80.

Lityan rose 41 sen to RM2.72, NSTP climbed 39 sen to RM2.39, Hong Leong Finance Group advanced 12 sen to RM6.66, BIMB added 12 sen to RM1.22 and Bintulu Port was 9 sen higher at RM6.30.

Among plantation stocks, IOI Corp was down 3 sen to RM5.51 while IJM Plantations fell 5 sen to RM2.43.

Crude palm oil was unchanged to RM2,245 per tonne.

Nymex crude oil in electronic trade added 1 cent to US$76.95 per barrel.

The ringgit was quoted at 3.3825 to the US dollar.

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