KUALA LUMPUR (June 25): The FBM KLCI reversed its earlier losses and rose firmly to touch a record high of 1,611.13 points at 9.36am on Monday, but pared down some of its gains at mid-morning.
At 10am, the FBM KLCI was up 5.72 points to 1,608.79.
There were 252 gainers and 124 losers, while 216 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 241.67 million shares valued at RM153.34 million.
Asian shares mostly slipped on Monday and the safe-haven dollar rose as concerns about faltering global growth and Europe's intractable debt crisis continued to sap investor confidence, but Japanese stocks were supported by a weaker yen, according to Reuters.
The euro fell, despite moves late last week to ease funding strains on the euro zone banking system, as markets remained unconvinced that a European Union summit on Thursday and Friday will make substantial progress towards resolving the crisis, it said.
At the regional markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.12% to 8,787.68, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.46% to 18,907.20, the Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.50% to 2,249.48, Taiwan’s Taiex lost 0.65% to 7,174.84, south Korea’s Kospi lost 1.72% to 1,815.54 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index was down 0.65%to 2,809.75.
BIMB Securities Research in a note Monday said that global markets were hit following Moody’s downgrade of 15 Global US banks and a worse than expected economic numbers from Germany.
Consequently, European and Asian bourses saw broad based sell off with most ended the week in negative territory, it said.
Nonetheless, the DJI Average staged a rebound closing 67 points higher at 12,640 having experienced similar sell down on Thursday, it said.
The research house said that on the local front, the FBM KLCI maintained its resilience with a 1.64 point gain to 1,603 despite the weaker regional performance.
“We reckon investors buying interests could be attributed to the liquidity factor coupled with the impending listing of FGVH later in the week.
“Notwithstanding this, we caution investors that FBMKLCI’s gravity defying ability may come to an abrupt end anytime soon. Immediate support is seen at the 1,600 level,” it said.
Among the gainers on Bursa Malaysia at mid-morning, Pharmaniaga rose 77 sen to RM9.77, Prestariang added 23 sen to RM1.24, Apex 19 sen to RM1.14, UMW 15 sen to RM9.08, Telekom 13 sen to RM5.82, BLD Plantations up 11 sen to RM8.57, Public bank and KrisAssets 10 sen each to RM13.86 and RM8.10, BIMB nine sen to RM3.29 and Carlsberg six sen to RM12.10.
Luster was the most actively traded counter with 42.57 million shares done. The stock fell half a sen to 18 sen.
Other actives included HWGB, Prestariang, Compugates, Ideal Jacobs, Genfung and Ramunia.
The decliners at mid-morning included Petronas Dagangan, Tradewinds, Far East, P.I.E, F&N, Aturmaju, Sarawak Oil Palms, HELP and DKLS.