Business

Published: Monday November 23, 2009 MYT 1:01:00 PM

KLCI marginally down in early trade

By Laalitha Hunt


KUALA LUMPUR: The KLCI was marginally down in early trade Monday.

In the region, most Asian stocks were mainly on the rise together with the region’s currencies on signs that the economic recovery is gathering pace.

According to HwangDBS Vickers Research Sdn Bhd, market breadth would likely come in negative as share prices on the Malaysian bourse are expected to be under selling pressures for the moment.

The immediate support level for the benchmark FBM KLCI is currently seen at 1,255, HwangDBS said.

“Still, we may see a bit of buying interest trickling in to support the broad market performance following Malaysia’s better-than-expected third quarter gross domestic product (GDP), which registered a year-on-year contraction of 1.2%,” HwangDBS added.

At 11.50am, the KLCI was 2.23 points lower at 1,272.13 while Singapore’s Straits Times Index advanced 0.46% to 2,774.20.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.54% to 9,497.68, Taipei’s Taiex Index gained 0.09% to 7,689.63 while Seoul’s Kospi Index declined 0.12% to 1,618.72.

At Bursa Malaysia, 162 counters were up, 317 were down while 234 others were traded unchanged. There were 334.84 million shares done at a total value of RM289.48mil.

Among active stocks, initial public offer - TA Global fell 1.5 sen to 48.5 sen while TA Enterprise declined 4 sen to 74.5 sen.

KFC fell 17 sen to RM7.23, HaiO declined 15 sen to RM6.85, Hong Leong Bank lost 8 sen to RM8.22 and Nestle was 8 sen lower at RM32.70.

Among plantation stocks, United Plantations increased 10 sen to RM13.70 while Batu Kawan added 8 sen to RM10.18.

Nymex crude oil in electronic trade was up 60 cents to US$78.07 per barrel.

Spot gold gained US$12.60 to US$1,163.20 per ounce.

The ringgit was quoted at 3.381 to the US dollar.

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