Investors waiting for leads

Written by Insider Asia
Wednesday, 26 August 2009 18:13

Shares on the Bursa Malaysia drifted sideways on Wednesday, Aug 26. Although the benchmark index, the FBM KLCI, was in the red almost throughout the trading day, losses were limited. Indeed, most stocks traded within very narrow price ranges.Market volume contracted to less than 637 million shares.

Trading volume has been on the downtrend in the past few days as investors moved to the sidelines pending greater clarity on the market’s near-term outlook.Positively, sentiment in world stocks has held up very well despite some jittery moments. Most stocks are keeping their gains from the recent rally even though the upward momentum has slowed somewhat in recent days.

Most of the relevant bellwether indices in the region traded on a steadier footing on Wednesday after Wall Street managed to eke out a small gain overnight.Investor confidence was bolstered by a strong jump in the US consumer confidence index, which rose to 54.1 in August 2009 after slipping for two straight months in June-July 2009.

A separate survey showed home prices crept higher in 2Q09 compared to the immediate preceding quarter, the first quarterly rise in three years. Home sales have picked up over the past few months as the economic outlook improved. Nevertheless, caution remains as other reports indicate foreclosure is still on the rise.

High unemployment is also expected to result in more loan delinquencies over the coming months.Some last-minute buying lifted the FBM KLCI just about 1.5 points higher to close at 1,172.6 points. Market breadth was more positive with gainers outnumbering losers by a ratio of roughly seven to five.

Some of the notable losers include DiGi, Petra Perdana and Kamdar. At the other end, EON Capital, MPHB and Lafarge Malayan Cement were among the bigger gainers. Most of these stocks were thinly traded.Oil Corp was the most actively traded stock for the day. Other actives include Kurnia Asia, KNM and PLUS Expressways