Business

Published: Thursday September 24, 2009 MYT 10:07:00 AM

Mixed trading on Bursa; US keeps rates unchanged


KUALA LUMPUR: Stocks on Bursa Malaysia traded sideways in thin trading with focus mainly drawn on penny and second liner stocks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.8% in overnight trading after the US Federal Open Market Committee kept rates unchanged. The policymakers indicated that the prevailing economic conditions would warrant exceptionally low levels of rate for an extended period because the picking up economic activity was likely to remain weak.

Crude oil futures fell below US$70 per barrel after the Energy Information Administration posted an increase of 2.8 million barrels in crude oil inventories for the week ended Sept. 18.

Most Asian bourses stayed in the red - Hang Seng Index fell 1.5%, Kospi declined by 0.1% while Singapore’s Straits Times and Taiwan’s benchmark index were down slightly by 0.1% each.

At 10.02am, the FBM KLCI was up 1.05 points at 1,220. Losers outnumbered gainers 155 to 136 while 151 counters were unchanged.

Shares of Oilcorp Bhd, which fell under PN 17, declined 6.5 sen to 20 sen while AirAsia Bhd slipped 4 sen to RM1.41.

Shares of car component manufacturers were heavily traded. EP Manufacturing Bhd and Ingress Corp Bhd rose 6.5 sen each to 52 sen and 78.5 sen respectivey.

A research house expected the market “to lose a bit more steam today” but the magnitude of any pullback should be fairly moderate with bargain hunters likely to step in on further market weakness.

“The trading environment will be quiet in the absence of new leads locally,” it said in a report.

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