Business

Published: Thursday November 26, 2009 MYT 2:58:00 PM

Asian markets continue to fluctuate at midday

By Laalitha Hunt


KUALA LUMPUR: Asian stocks fluctuated as share-sale concerns and the dollar’s slump to a 14-year low against the yen overshadowed advances by commodity and technology companies.

Bloomberg reported that the MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.1% to 118.37 as of 12:59 p.m. in Tokyo.

The gauge, which swung between gains and losses at least 18 times, has climbed 68% from a more than five-year low on March 9 amid signs government stimulus measures were reviving economies around the world, according to Bloomberg.

“Markets tend to consolidate after a very strong performance,” said Paul Xiradis, who manages US$10bil at Ausbil Dexia Ltd in Sydney.

“It’s a bit of a patience game from here. What we want to see is ongoing confirmation that things are improving, and then that being translated into improved earnings.” Xiradis added.

At home, the benchmark KLCI was 1.81 points higher at 1,272.81 while Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.11% to 2,789.81.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 advanced 0.04% to 9,445.36, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.66% to 22,462.41, Shanghai’s A share index dropped 0.12% to 3,286.28 and Seoul’s Kospi Index was 0.34% higher at 1,617.32.

At Bursa Malaysia, 220 counters were up, 283 were down while 254 others were traded unchanged. There were 391.91 million shares done with a total value of RM427.054mil.

Gainers included HaiO, which rose 27 sen to RM6.42, Johore Tin climbed 19 sen to 70 sen, Shell advanced 12 sen to RM10.70, Proton added 10 sen to RM4.11 and DiGi was 8 sen higher at RM22.

Nestle lost 30 sen to RM32.70, Gamuda dropped 11 sen to RM2.79 and Allianz fell 10 sen to RM4.70.

Among plantation stocks, United Plantation was up 10 sen to RM13.90 while IOI Corp added 8 sen to RM5.49.

Crude palm oil was up RM11 to RM2,493 per tonne.

Nymex crude oil in electronic trade fell 54 cents to US$77.42 per barrel.

The ringgit was quoted at 3.3825 to the US dollar.

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