Higher on Wall Street gains

Stock prices in Asia traded broadly higher on Tuesday, Dec 22, tracking Wall Street’s overnight gains. US stocks had rallied on Monday, as investors welcomed earnings upgrades on Alcoa and TECHNOLOGY [] stocks, and corporate deals in the healthcare sector.

Gains in the region were also buoyed by technology stocks in Japan, as gains on the Nasdaq and Philadelphia Semiconductor indices and the recent weakening of the yen versus the US dollar helped lift the outlook for exporters.

The gains were welcome after recent declines sparked by concerns over the direction of interest rates as well as problems in Dubai and Greece, which caused a rise in the US dollar due to a flight to safety. The sudden, unexpected rise in the US dollar would have had an impact on speculative carry trades, the unwinding of which caused a fall in commodity prices, especially gold.

On Bursa Malaysia, the FBM KLCI gained 4.8 points to 1,260.4. Advancing stocks beat declining ones by a three-to-two margin at the close.

However, volume remained low, with just 446 million shares changing hands, as many investors are already away for the Christmas and year-end holidays. Major bourses will close on Friday for Christmas while Wall Street will also close early on Thursday.

Investor sentiment was also lifted by expectations of corporate developments in the banking sector, with news that major shareholders of EON Capital and Hong Leong Bank have received regulatory permission to begin merger talks.

EON Capital’s shares rose 12 sen to RM7, its highest for the year, Hong Leong Bank rose two sen to RM7.89 and its parent Hong Leong Financial Group increased 22 sen to RM7.52.

Actively traded stocks include XDL, Scomi’s loan stocks, KNM, Denko, LCL and Maxis. Major gainers include Jerneh and its warrants, Hong Leong Financial Group and Padini. Losers include PPB, Hai-O, Malaysia Airports and Adventa.