Regional markets rally

Tags: economies | manufacturing | Regional markets

Written by Joseph Chin
Tuesday, 05 January 2010 10:23

KUALA LUMPUR: Key regional markets rallied in early trade on Tuesday, Jan 5, as investors' appetite for equities perked up following the strong overnight close on Wall Street after positive manufacturing reports which showed the major economies were on the mend.

At 10am, the FBM KLCI was up 10.37 points to 1,286.12. Turnover was 468.45 million shares valued at RM354.61 million. Gainers outpaced losers 423 to 87 while 161 stocks were unchanged.

Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.95% to 10,756.42, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index opened 1% up at 22,050.03. Shanghai's Composite Index added 0.35% to 3,255.2 and Singapore's Straits Times Index 0.72% higher at 2,915.48 at 9.47am.

Gold rose 40 cents to US$1,121.60 and light crude oil added nine cents to US$81.60.

HwangDBS Vickers Research said the local stock market, after putting up a surprisingly resilient performance yesterday, there was a good chance for it to go higher today.

"Its benchmark FBM KLCI is poised to challenge (and possibly break) the immediate resistance level of 1,280 ahead. Perhaps reflecting a pick-up in sentiment, the FBM KLCI futures spot month contract jumped to settle at 1,282 yesterday," it said in its market outlook.

The research house said retail investors were itching to get back into action and this was reflected in the trading volume of 1.1 billion shares with an average value per trade of 85 sen as market breadth turned decisively positive (at a ratio of 3.6 gainers for one loser).

It said this suggested the lower liners would continue to attract attention in the near term. Giving an added boost to sentiment is the overnight rally on Wall Street. Major U.S. equity indices were up between 1.5% and 1.7% at the closing bell to beat their 2009 closing highs, lifted chiefly by better manufacturing report and rising crude oil prices.

Nestle added 46 sen to RM34.34, IJM 24 sen to RM4.83 and Tanjong 22 sen to RM17.50 while Bursa advanced 16 sen to RM8.16 and Genting 13 sen to RM7.59.

Among PLANTATION []s, KL Kepong gained 30 sen to RM16.80 and Genting Plantations 16 sen to RM6.46 on higher crude palm oil prices.

L&G added eight sen to 47.5 sen and it was the most active with 32.55 million shares done after it was upgraded by CIMB Equities Research.

Tan Chong-CA, which was listed, rose 7.5 sen to 23.5 sen with 22.9 million units done. Green Packet-WA added 4.5 sen to 77.5 sen.

Toyo Ink fell 28 sen to RM2.10 after RHB Research kept an underperform on the company. Alliance Financial Group lost seven sen to RM2.63 and Integrax four sen to RM1.10.