Tight trading on FBM KLCI

Written by Loong Tse Min
Thursday, 17 December 2009 13:37

KUALA LUMPUR: At the midday break on Thursday, Dec 17 FBM KLCI ended its morning session largely unchanged, up only 0.05 points to 1,269.08.

The day's tight trading range was due to non-participation of investors who are mostly away on holiday going into the last two weeks of the year, said a technical analyst.

However, "Some local funds have yet to close off their positions for the year and I think will provide the underlying support for the market, maybe in the later part of the two weeks," he added.

The analyst expects the FBM KLCI to trade range bound between 1,260 points and 1,280 points for the day and over the next two weeks. The year's high is likely to be 1,288.42, the intra-day high reached on Nov 17.

At 12.30pm, top gainers were Genting up 7 sen to RM7.26, TNB up 4 sen to RM8.44 and Maybank up 2 sen to RM6.80, while top heavyweight losers were CIMB down 6 sen to RM13.02, AMMB Holdings down 4 sen to RM4.92 and Maxis down 3 sen to RM5.35.

Asian markets remain mixed at midday as strong metal prices and recovering crude oil boost commodity-related counters in the region but financial stocks take a dive following two days of rally.

At market close on the London Metal Exchange yesterday, copper for three-month delivery ended 2.09% higher to US$7,039 per metric tonne, while aluminium for three-month delivery ended 1.88% higher to US$2,276 per metric tonne. Nymex crude oil for one-month delivery is lower by 46 cents to US$72.20 per barrel at 12.45pm.

This follows the US Federal Reserve's decision to keep the interest rate constant. US policy makers said economic activity has continued to pick up and mentioned the prevailing economic environment would warrant exceptionally low interest rate levels for an extended period.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average that measures the 30 largest and most widely held stocks in the country closed down 0.10% to 10,441.12 overnight while the broader S&P 500 Index closed up 0.11% to 1,109.18.

At 12.45pm Japan's Nikkei 225 was higher by 0.35% to 10,213.51, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.91% to 21,414.50, China's Shanghai Composite Index down 1.43% to 3,208.59 and Singapore's Straits Times Index was up 0.02% to 2,814.54 points.