Bursa likely to perk up ahead of budget

Written by Surin Murugiah
Friday, 25 September 2009 00:10

KUALA LUMPUR: Investors appeared to be still in a holiday mood, judging by the manner in which the local stock exchange continued its uninspired run for the second consecutive day on Sept 24.

With few fresh leads and generally lacklustre European markets, the benchmark FBM KLCI was flat, easing 0.08% or 1.01 points to 1,218.06 while most regional markets took a hit on the lower closing on Wall Street.

Inter-Pacific Research Sdn Bhd head of research Anthony Dass said trading on Bursa Malaysia was expected to remain range bound until the end of the month, though a mild correction was seen.

“Moving forward, the local bourse would gain some momentum from the beginning of October as there could be some excitement ahead of the announcement of Budget 2010. This is especially so as investors and businesses alike are expecting the prime minister to unveil some goodies to boost the economy and the stock market,” he said.

Turnover on Sept 24 was 751.1 million shares valued at RM1.13 billion. Losers beat gainers 371 to 283, while 222 counters traded unchanged.

Crude palm oil futures for third month delivery fell RM31 per tonne to RM2,115 while crude oil was down 40 cents per barrel to US$68.57 as at 6.30pm on Sept 24.

Over at the regional markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slumped 2.52% to 21,050.73, the South Korean Kospi lost 1.03% to 1,693.88, the Taiwan Taiex Index fell 0.71% to 7,324.22, and the Singapore Straits Times Index fell 0.7% to 2,667.43 points, mirroring the overnight losses on Wall Street.

Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 1.67% to 10,544.22 while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.38% to 2,853.55.
On the local front, shares of MEDIA PRIMA BHD [] and The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Bhd rose after Macquarie Research upgraded the stocks to outperform.

The research house said Media Prima would be a key beneficiary of rising advertising expenditure (adex), while NSTP was expected to benefit from the shift in readership from English to Malay newspapers as advertisers increasingly take advantage of this trend.

The three newspapers in NSTP’s fold account for 35% of total circulation and 22% of total newspaper adex in the country. Media Prima gained one sen to RM1.50 while NSTP surged 18 sen to a 26-month high of RM2.16.

Other media companies whose shares rose on Sept 24 were Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd and Utusan Melayu (Malaysia) Bhd, which added one sen to RM3.41 and 6.5 sen to 91.5 sen, respectively.

Among the decliners, OILCORP BHD [] continued its slide from Wednesday when it fell 28%, or 7.5 sen, to 19 sen after it had defaulted on a loan. The stock was also the most actively traded on Sept 24 with 59.2 million shares done.

PROTON HOLDINGS BHD [] was the top loser, falling 23 sen to RM4.25; IJM CORPORATION BHD [] was down 15 sen to RM6.60 while ALLIANZ MALAYSIA BHD [] and GENTING BHD [] fell 12 sen each to RM4.78 and RM7.19, respectively.

Meanwhile, KFC HOLDINGS (M) BHD [] and KULIM (M) BHD [] fell 16 sen and nine sen to RM7.28 and RM7.40, respectively. Other losers included KL Kepong Bhd, Tanjong plc, RHB CAPITAL BHD [], AMMB HOLDINGS BHD [] and MALAYAN BANKING BHD []. Among the gainers were Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd, KPJ HEALTHCARE BHD [], FRASER & NEAVE HOLDINGS BHD [] and EMICO HOLDINGS BHD [].