FBM KLCI down at midday

KUALA LUMPUR: Lack of leads as well as the prospect of a long holiday weekend dampened investors' appetite at the local bourse today, as lacklustre trading kept FBM KLCI in negative territory this morning.

Losses at key blue chips including SIME DARBY BHD [], CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, GENTING BHD [] and TENAGA NASIONAL BHD [] dragged the index lower.

Market observers have pointed that trading in the run-up to the Christmas holidays was expected to remain flat.

Maybank Investment Bank Bhd Equity Research had in a note this morning said it expects the FBM KLCI to see further selling and liquidation ahead of the long weekend due to Christmas.

"We believe that the FBM KLCI peaked at 1,288.42 on Nov 17, and urge investors to liquidate all their stocks on any and every rally. The FBM KLCI's indicators (CCI, DMI, Stochastic, MACD and Oscillator) turned negative recently.

"The FBM KLCI will now embark on a major corrective phase, having risen from its March 2009 low of 836.51 to 1,288.42 (November 2009) without any meaningful correction. The market may have rebounded yesterday but we expect further volatility ahead of the extended Christmas weekend," it said in a note Dec 23.

The FBM KLCI fell 0.13% or 1.57 points to 1,258.85 at midday. Trading volume was 187.6 million shares valued at RM282.69 million. Gainers trailed losers 170 to 254, while 251 counters traded unchanged.

Among the major laggards, Sime and CIMB fell 6 sen each to RM8.88 and RM12.84, while Genting and Tenaga lost one sen each to RM7.26 and RM8.32.

Other major losers included Geshen that fell 14 sen to 26 sen, IJM Corp and EON Capital down 13 sen each to RM4.32 and RM6.87, and MAHB down 10 sen to RM3.92.

Meanwhile, F&N, Litrak, BAT and Jerneh warrants fell 8 sen each to RM10.50, RM2.80, RM42.14 and RM1, respectively.

The top gainer this morning was Hai-O that added 40 sen to RM7.90; DFZ Capital gained 35 sen to RM4.12, Tanjong up 10 sen to RM16.62 and Hiap Teck up 9 sen to RM1.53.

Meanwhile, TSM Global and Hong Leong Financial Group gained 8 sen each to RM2.02 and RM7.60.

Over at the regional markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipped 0.05% to 21,081.83, the Shanghai Composite Index added 0.48% to 3,065.16, the Taiwan TAIEX Index up 0.62% to 7,904.48, the South Korean Kospi gained 0.14% to 1,657.91 while Singapore's Straits Times Index rose 0.51% to 2,838.15.

Crude oil fell 10 cents to US$74.30 per barrel, while crude palm oil futures for third month delivery fell RM13 to RM2,502 per tonne.