KLCI gains for a second day

Published: 2009/05/25

The benchmark Kuala Lumpur Composite Index rose for a second day, adding 5.43 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 1,050.69 at the 12:30 pm local time break, headed for the highest close since September 10. Three stocks gained for each one that fell on the 102-member gauge.

May index futures climbed 0.1 percent to 1,049.50.AirAsia Bhd, Southeast Asia’s biggest low-cost airline, advanced 3.3 per cent to RM1.24, set for the largest increase since May 5. The company may this week report first-quarter results that beat analysts’ expectations because of higher yields and lower expenses, CIMB Investment Bank Bhd said.

The airline, scheduled to announce results on May 28, may say so-called core net profit, which excludes foreign-exchange translation losses, rose to RM116.7 million (US$33 million) from RM23.6 million in the same period a year earlier, Raymond Yap, an analyst at CIMB, wrote in a report today.

Green Packet Bhd, a provider of wireless Internet services, fell 4.3 per cent to 78 sen, set for its lowest since December 19. The company plans to raise RM104.2 million (US$30 million) in a rights offer to help fund network expansion.

The company will offer investors as many as 280.3 million new rights shares, on the basis of one for every two shares currently owned, it said in a statement. The indicative price for each rights share is 50 sen, it said.