Late buying lifts FBM KLCI

Share prices on Bursa Malaysia closed higher yesterday despite earlier mild profit-taking, dealers said.

They said the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) traded in negative territory throughout the morning session due to some selling in selected heavyweights.

However, continued buying in the afternoon session helped pushed the index back into positive territory.

Dealers described the trading session as "choppy" with profit-taking keeping the index in a tight range.

"Players remain cautious ahead of key US earnings this week," Dow Jones Newswires cited banking group CIMB as saying.

A dealer said last hour buying interest from local funds provided support for the bourse.

"Investors are likely to keep an eye on corporate earnings in US and take their cue from Wall Street's performance," the dealer said.

The FBM KLCI ended 0.18 point higher at 1,233.51 after opening 1.16 points lower at 1,232.17.

The FBM Emas Index rose 13.76 points to 8,296.01, the FBM Top 100 increased 7.77 points to 8,079.27, the FBM 70 gained 33.78 points to 8,146.47 and the FBM ACE Index jumped 73.81 points to 4,220.72. The Finance Index rose 11.06 points to 10,356.66 and the Plantation Index gained 20.36 points to 5,987.58 but the Industrial Index fell 9.26 points to 2,653.27.

Gainers outpaced losers by 439 to 246 with 239 counters unchanged and 346 untraded. Turnover rose to 939.925 million shares worth RM1.005 billion from 639.357 million shares valued at RM833.081 million previously.

Topping the most active list was Talam Corporation which rose 2 sen to 9.5 sen. SILK Holdings gained 21 sen to 44.5 sen ahead of its exit from PN17 status today.

KNM Group meanwhile, inched up 1/2 sen to 80.5 sen, and Metronic added 1 sen to 12 sen. ISS Consulting was unchanged at 13.5 sen. The stock was in focus yesterday after Formis Resources Bhd proposed to take control of the company.

Of the heavyweights, Sime Darby shed 1 sen to RM8.62 but Maybank gained 3 sen to RM6.74. CIMB Group gained 12 sen to RM12.16, Tenaga Nasional and IOI Corp added 1 sen each to RM8.23 and RM5.27 respectively.

Meanwhile, FBM KLCI futures contracts closed lower on some late selling as investors took profit from earlier gains, dealers said.

October 2009 and December 2009 contracts both declined 3 points to 1,234.5. November 2009 and March 2010 contracts slipped 2.5 points to 1,235.0 and 1,233.0 respectively. - Bernama, AFP