Markets snap losing streak

KUALA LUMPUR: Key regional markets snapped from their recent losses at the midday break on Thursday, Jan 28 after the firmer close on Wall Street while at Bursa Malaysia, blue chips were marginally higher.

US stock index futures also shot up in late after-hours trading as President Barack Obama pushed job creation to the top of his agenda to bring down high unemployment, proposing the use of US$30 billion of bank bailout repayments to boost lending to small businesses, according to Reuters.

The FBM KLCI inched up a marginal 0.03 of a point to 1,265.8 at 12.30pm. Turnover was 523.11 million shares valued at RM628.83 million. Advancing counters beat decliners 460 to 148 while 207 stocks were unchanged.

Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1.77%to 10,433.83, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 1.81% to 20,396.40 while Shanghai's Composite Index added 0.41% to 2,998.83 and Singapore's Straits Times Index rallied 1.91% to 2,757.94.

Light crude oil rose 23 cents to US$73.90, US spot gold added US$1.88 to US$1,089.78 while crude palm oil futures gained RM12 to RM2,441.

Among the index-linked stocks, BAT added 46 sen to RM42.96, PPB 32 sen to RM16.70, Genting nine sen to RM7.05, Public Bank six sen to RM11.76.

Nestle rose 28 sen to RM33.30 while glove markers Hartalege rose 18 sen to RM7.44 and Adventa 17 sen to RM3.58.

KYM jumped 24 sen to RM1.13 in active trade as traders viewed the recent corporate developments as positive.

MEMS was the most active with 36.7 million shares done, losing half its value when it fell four sen to four sen.

Tanjong lost 12 sen to RM17.28, F&N 10 sen to RM11, IOI Corp nine sen to RM5.22 and Maxis two sen to RM5.37.