CIMB drives FBM KLCI higher

KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips extended their gains in early trade on Wednesday, March 24, powered by CIMB and Tanjong as market sentiment firmed up especially, after the FBM KLCI managed to stay above the key 1,300 level and the stronger overnight close on Wall Street.

At 9.23am, the FBM KLCI was up 8.42 points to 1,313.27. Turnover was 108.8 million shares valued at RM125 million. There were 243 gainers, 48 losers and 133 stocks unchanged.

HwangDBS Vickers Research said continuing from where it left off on Tuesday, the FBM KLCI could cut above the resistance line of 1,305 on Wednesday. If so, then the benchmark index may advance towards its recent high of 1,334, on its way to challenge the next resistance target of 1,340.

It said essentially, investors will be in the mood to buy equities after major U.S. stock indices on Wall Street surged (by between 0.7% and 1.0% overnight) to new highs following the share market rebound since March 2009. Confidence was boosted by a belief that the global economic recovery is strengthening.

HwangDBS Vickers Research said it would get an insight into the prospects of the Malaysian economy when Bank Negara Malaysia releases its Annual Report 2009 this evening, including revealing its official GDP growth projection for 2010.

Meanwhile, there will be a high profile launch of high speed broadband services by Telekom Malaysia late Wednesday, which is supposed to add a new income source for TM.

At Bursa Malaysia, CIMB led the charge, rising 18 sen to RM13.36 while Tanjong gained 12 sen to RM17.90 and chip-related stocks MPI added 13 sen to RM6.68 and Unisem 11 sen to RM2.56.

Glove makers Hartalega rose 12 sen to RM7.88 and Kossan 11 sen to RM7.52 while IRCB, which was the most active with 11.9 million shares, rose 10 sen to RM1.30.

Hard disk component manufacturer JCY rose nine sen to RM1.69 with 7.04 million shares done while JCY-CA added seven sen to 32 sen.

KKB picked up steam, rising 15 sen to RM5.95 while Naim added 13 sen to RM3.47.