Bargain-hunting in big stocks

Published: 2009/05/23

Malaysian shares ended higher yesterday on bargain-hunting in heavyweights, especially plantation stocks, said dealers.

They said, however, the gains were capped by losses in key heavyweight, Sime Darby. The benchmark Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) closed 9.7 points, or 0.937 per cent, higher at 1,045.26, after opening 4.88 points lower at 1,030.68.

The KLCI hit an intra-day high of 1,045.39 and an intra-day low of 1,030.04.Jupiter Securities head of research Pong Teng Siew said the market was at its strongest and was one of the best performers in the region, crediting the large-capitalised stocks for it.

"The second and third liners were not really moving so it shows that the retail players are more cautious after the big run. They are buying in a restraint manner," he said. Phua said the market is now focusing on commodity and has been "ignoring a bit of the Dow" with concerns about the "Perak issue fading into the background".

"There were some foreign funds in the market. I can't be sure if they are here for the long term or just for opportunistic buying. But it certainly helps," he said.The Finance Index increased 58.55 points to 8,148.75, the Industrial Index gained 12.95 points to 2,301.09 and the Plantation Index jumped 56.35 points to 5,458.41.

The FBMEmas was 70.26 points higher at 6,970.32, the FBM30 went up by 65.14 points to 6,697.48, while the FBM2BRD slipped 5.96 points to 4,526.88 and the FBM-MDQ dropped 22.19 points to 3,947.92.

Gainers led losers by 364 to 250 while 231 counters were unchanged, 408 untraded and 39 others suspended.Among the active stocks, TA-WB and KNM were flat at 3.5 sen and 78 sen respectively, Tebrau gained 10 sen to RM76 sen, UEM Land went up 24 sen to RM1.62 and Mulpha rose 3 sen to 50.5 sen.

For the heavyweights, Sime Darby fell 5 sen to RM6.90, Maybank was flat at RM5.20, Tenaga Nasional rose 25 sen to RM7.65, Bumiputra-Commerce gained 5 sen to RM8.85 and IOI Corp went up 8 sen to RM4.76. Public Bank increased 5 sen to RM8.60, Axiata was 1 sen up at RM2.45, Genting jumped 28 sen to RM5.20 and PPB advanced 20 sen to RM11.30.

Meanwhile, KLCI futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed firmer in line with a higher cash market, dealers said. The spot month May rose 19 points to 1,048.0 and June gained 22.5 points to close at 1,045.5. September and December jumped 20.5 points each to 1,034.0 and 1,028.0 respectively. - Bernama