Business

Published: Tuesday July 17, 2012 MYT 5:32:00 PM

Hopes of more monetary stimulus drive markets higher

By Joseph Chin


KUALA LUMPUR: Key regional markets climbed on Tuesday, with the FBM KLCI charting another fresh record high, as investors picked up riskier assets on hopes of more monetary stimulus.

At 5pm, the FBM KLCI was up 3.19 points or 0.2% to 1,639.15, off the intra-day high of 1,646.97. Turnover was 1.35 billion shares valued at RM2.01bil. There were 401 gainers, 409 losers and 314 stocks unchanged.

Reuters reported world shares and the euro posted modest gains as investors speculated that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will hint at more monetary stimulus later in the day.

Weak US retail sales data and a cut in the International Monetary Fund's global growth forecast on Monday have bolstered the view that the world economy is slowing, encouraging markets to position for more action by central banks, it said.

Among the key regional markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rallied 1.75% to 19,455.33; Japan's Nikkei 225 added 0.35% to 8,755; Shanghai's Composite Index 0.62% higher at 19,455.33; Taiwan's Taiex 0.52% to 7,127; South Korea's Kospi 0.23% to 1,821.96 and Singapore's Straits Times Index 0.5% higher to 3,013.78.

US light crude oil rose nine cents to US$88.52 and Bremt 51 cents higher to US$103.88. Spot gold gained US$6.98 to US$1,596.38.

The ringgit was firmer against the US dollar at 3.1633 versus 3.1758 on Monday.

Crude palm oil for third-month futures fell RM36 to RM3,086.

At Bursa Malaysia, there was some profit taking on the stocks which had rallied in recent days. Dealers said most of the buying of big caps were by institutional players while most retail investors were staying on the sidelines.

Telco stocks were off their day's best as investors locked in gains, but they pushed the 30-stock KLCI up 5.97 points.

Axiata rose 16 sen to RM6, adding 3.18 points to the KLCI; Telekom rose 13 sen to RM6.15 and DiGi seven sen to RM4.4 while Maxis gained six sen to RM6.71.

Hing Yap jumped 58 sen to RM2.85 with 2.11 million shares done. F&N added 38 sen to RM18.38 and Nestle 28 sen to RM58.50.

Media Chinese International gained 30 sen to RM1.65, after it announced a 41 sen dividend.

Oriental Holdings jumped 30 sen to RM7.19. CIMB Equities Research initiated coverage with an Outperform recommendation. It said the target price of RM9.10 was based on 20% discount to its RNAV of RM11.40 per share.

Cybertowers hit limit-down, falling 30 sen to 60 sen with 15.56 million shares done. The latest bout of sell-down has seen RM1.34 erased from the value of its shares when it closed at RM1.94 last Wednesday.

Y&G tumbled 27 sen to 51 sen while BAT and Panamy lost 20 sen each to RM56.30 and RM23.40.

Among plantations, Batu Kawan fell 14 sen to RM18.56 and United Plantations 10 sen to RM25.90 and KLK eight sen to RM23.86.

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