KL shares mixed on rotational play

Malaysian shares were mixed at midday today on rotational play, particularly in small-capitalised and big-cap stocks, dealers said.

At 12.30 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) rose 5.01 points or 0.387 per cent to 1,299.72.

Active trading moved the benchmark index from 1,295.72 to touch 1,300.89, a fresh 24-month high this morning.

Maybank Investment Bank Bhd head of retail research Lee Cheng Hooi said rotational play will continue to dominate the market.



Among investors, the focus is on property, steel and rubber glove counters, he explained.

"Persistent buying momentum may cause the FBM KLCI to push towards the 1,305 to 1,338 resistance levels in the near future," he said.

For the other indices, the Finance Index rose 44.27 points to 11,341.05 and the Industrial Index added 3.04 points to 2,721.12 while the Plantation Index went up 7.75 points to 6,517.22.

The FBM Emas Index increased 28.88 points to 8,790.78 and the FBM Top 100 Index gained 29.521 points to 8,523.49, while the FBMACE Index went up 14.79 points to 4,636.78 and the FBM70 Index added 16.851 points to 8,636.74.

Gainers and losers were equal at 351 each, while 254 stocks were unchanged and 349 others untraded.

At noon break, volume stood at 1.006 billion shares worth RM1.005 billion.

Among the actives, Pentamaster inched up 21.5 sen to 63 sen, Dataprep rose five sen to 42.5 sen and Hubline increased 1.5 sen to 23.5 sen.

Among the heavyweights, Sime Darby rose three sen to RM9.03, Maybank increased one sen to RM6.90, CIMB went up two sen to RM13.44 and Maxis added two sen to RM5.37. -- Bernama