KL shares mixed on profit-taking

Malaysian shares closed mixed yesterday as investors took profit after earlier gains, dealers said.

The market had opened higher yesterday, underpinned by the continued buying of selective blue chips, as investors took cue from the positive sentiment on global markets.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) ended 0.49 of a point lower at 1,233.33, off its highest closing level of 1,233.82 recorded on Friday.

The index, which had opened 1.78 points higher at 1,235.60 yesterday, touched its highest level to date this year at 1,238.30, after 25 minutes of trading.

According to the dealers, the market sentiment was boosted after upbeat economic and corporate news from the US lifted the prospects of a sustainable economic recovery.

"Positive external factors had encouraged buying interest in local market," a dealer said.

At the closing, the FBM Emas Index rose 2.82 points to 8,282.25, the FBM Top 100 inched up 0.80 of a point to 8,071.50, the FBM 70 gained 16.76 points to 8,112.69 and the FBM ACE Index advanced 21.72 points to 4,146.91.

The Finance Index increased 13.41 points to 10,345.60, the Industrial Index added 7.70 points to 2,662.53 while the Plantation Index declined 3.97 points to 5,967.22.

Gainers outnumbered losers 332 to 310 with 253 counters unchanged and 399 others untraded.

Turnover declined to 639.357 million shares valued at RM833.081 million compared with the 712.749 million shares worth RM1.211 billion last Friday.

Among the actives, Time DotCom rose 3 sen to 42 sen, Time Engineering increased 2.5 sen to 36.5 sen and Metronic Global added 1 sen to 11 sen.

Of the heavyweights, Sime Darby increased 3 sen to RM8.63, Maybank gained 5 sen to RM6.79, while CIMB Group fell 18 sen to RM12.04.Tenaga Nasional was unchanged at RM8.22 with IOI Corp shedding 2 sen to RM5.26 while Genting was up 3 sen to RM7.36.

The Main Market turnover decreased to 580.281 million shares valued at RM818.665 million compared with the 631.736 million shares worth RM1.189 billion last Friday. The ACE Market volume eased to 38.960 million shares worth RM8.623 million against 43.034 million shares valued at RM10.302 million previously.

FBM KLCI futures contracts closed mixed as investors took profit after the recent gains, dealers said.

At close, October 2009 contract shed 0.5 point to 1,237.5, November 2009 was flat at 1,237.5, while December 2009 and March 2010 increased 0.5 point each to 1,237.5 and 1,235.5 respectively. - Bernama