Higher on widespread buying

Published: 2009/05/20

Malaysian shares ended higher yesterday following the overnight rally on Wall Street and the rise in crude oil price which gave a boost to plantation-related stocks, said dealers.

The benchmark Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) ended 11.48 points higher at 1,023.49. Jupiter Securities head of research Pong Teng Siew said by noon the buying activities had spread to other stocks such as banking, glove makers, oil and gas, and construction.

"However, I think we will see some selling tomorrow (Wednesday). The trend for the past two weeks has been showing alternate days of bargain-hunting and profit-taking," he said. He added that the trend could stay for the rest of the week and expected the KLCI to move within a support level of 980-990 and resistance level of 1,030-1,070.

The Finance Index was up 79.45 points at 8,035.47, the Industrial Index gained 11.12 points to 2,268.38 and the Plantation Index increased 104.33 points to 5,145.84. The FBMEmas was 90.29 points higher at 6,819.27, the FBM30 went up by 69.02 points to 6,538.86, the FBM2BRD rose 102.85 points to 4,573.5 and the FBM-MDQ gained 137.81 points to 4,057.33.

Gainers led losers by 544 to 157 while 155 counters were unchanged, 404 untraded and 58 others suspended. Volume rose to 1.754 billion shares worth RM1.599 billion from 1.697 billion shares worth RM1.319 billion on Monday. Among the active stocks, TA-WB slipped 1 sen to 6 sen, KNM gained 7 sen to 81 sen, SAAG went up 3 sen to 36.5 sen, and Scomi rose 7.5 sen to 72 sen.

Top gainers for the day included Concrete Engineering Products which increased 60 sen to RM3.30, Top Glove which went up 35 sen to RM6.10 and Panasonic Manufacturing Malaysia which gained 30 sen to RM11.20. As for the heavyweights, plantation-related stocks Sime Darby was up 5 sen at RM6.70, IOI Corp rose 12 sen to RM4.48, Kuala Lumpur Kepong increased 20 sen to RM11.30 and both Kulim and Asiatic jumped 15 sen each to RM6.05 and RM5.20 respectively.

Finance stocks Maybank rose 9 sen to RM5.05, Bumiputra-Commerce gained 15 sen to RM8.90, Public Bank was flat at RM8.45 and Bursa Malaysia gained 25 sen to RM7.05. On Bursa Malaysia Derivatives, KLCI futures closed firmer in line with a stronger cash market, dealers said.

May 2009 and September 2009 each rose 25 points to close at 1,028.5 and 1,015.5 respectively, while June 2009 went up 25.5 points to 1,028 and December 2009 gained 26 points at 1,010.5. - Bernama