Profit taking pushes FBM KLCI nearly 5 pts down

Written by Joseph Chin
Wednesday, 30 December 2009 13:17

KUALA LUMPUR: Profit taking saw the FBM KLCI fall nearly five points at the midday break on Wednesday, Dec 30, as year-end trading volume fell, in line with key regional markets.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was down 4.94 points or 0.4% to 1,270.28. Turnover shrank to 281.12 million shares valued at RM344.07 million. Market breadth was mixed with 247 gainers, 263 losers and 248 stocks unchanged.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.5% to 21,389.48, Singapore's Straits Times Index shed 0.08% to 2,867.42 but Japan's Nikkei 225 managed to recover to rise 0.06% to 10,643.99 and Shanghai's Composite Index jumped 1.05% to 3,245.32.

Light crude oil rose five sen to US$78.92, US spot gold fell US$2.44 to US$1,094.39 and crude palm oil futures fell RM2 to RM2,588.

At Bursa Malaysia, BAT fell the most, down 48 sen to RM42.30 with 14,200 shares done. Yesterday, it closed up 54 sen to RM42.78 in late trade. Nestle shed 32 sen to RM32.60 in thin trade.

HLFG fell 11 sen to RM7.45, CIMB 10 sen to RM13 and Maybank four sen to RM6.86.

MAS fell nine sen to RM2.91 and AirAsia three sen to RM1.35 as sentiment was also weighed down by the plunge in the share price of Japan Airlines, Asia's biggest carrier, on bankruptcy worries.

KPJ, which had surged to a historic high yesterday ahead of its suspension next week for its corporate exercise, eased eight sen to RM6.33.


SAAG was the most active 15.96 million shares done, down 0.5 sen to 17 sen.

Green Packet added four sen to RM1.24 and the warrants five sen to 72 sen in active trade while RedTone added two sen to 31 sen and Time one sen higher to 42.5 sen.

Linear hit limit-up, adding 30 sen to 48.5 sen with 3.78 million shares done after it secured a RM1.6 billion project. Hai-O, which rose 46 sen yesterday, adding another 24 sen in the morning session to RM8.73.

Ho Hup added 9.5 sen to 75.5 sen as shareholders bought the shares ahead of the crucial EGM on Thursday over the land disposals.

Glove makers Kossan added 18 sen to RM5.40 and Supermax 10 sen to RM4.69 as analysts viewed the industry's outlook as positive, especially medical gloves