Maybank, Far East lift blue chips

KUALA LUMPUR: Maybank and Far East helped lift blue chips in early trade on Sept 4 but the overall mood on Bursa Malaysia was somewhat lacklustre as investors were not in the rush to pick up stocks ahead of the US jobs data tonight.

At 10.01am, the FBM KLCI rose 1.55 points to 1,175.21. Turnover was 104 million shares valued at RM104.1 million shares. There were 173 gainers, 111 losers and 168 stocks unchanged.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index opened 0.8% higher at 19,915.04, Shanghai's Composite Index added 1.05% to 2,874.89, Singapore's Straits Times Index inched uo 0.33% to 2,606.85 but Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.16% to 10,198.1.

CIMB Retail Research said the FBMKLCI staged a technical rebound to climb above the 1,170 level yesterday. This was an encouraging sign as it shows that support trend line was still holding firm. It added the immediate resistance was at 1,178 followed by 1,200. Support is at 1,159 and 1,000.

Far East rose the most, adding 45 sen to RM6.45 with 3,200 shares done while PPB added 12 sen to RM15.50. RHB Cap added 11 sen to RM4.88 and Maybank six sen to RM6.46. Glove maker Hartalega added six sen to RM5.08 as it sought to increase its glove production.

Multi Sports was the most active with 7.5 million shares done, unchanged at 56 sen.
E&O extended its gains from the previous day, adding three sen to RM1.50. Ramunia rose 2.5 sen to 50.5 sen.

MSC fell the most, down 40 sen to RM2.92 but with only 1,000 shares done. Tanjong lost 14 sen to RM15.60 and Astro six sen to RM3.46.