KUALA LUMPUR (June 12): The FBM KLCI remained in negative territory at the mid-day break on Tuesday, as regional markets mostly fell, reversing their gains from Monday.
The FBM KLCI lost 3.76 points to 1,574.65 at 12.30pm. Losers beat gainers by 373 to 140, while 292 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 333.86 million shares valued at RM365.50 million.
Asian markets reversed the previous day's hefty gains on Tuesday, investors far from convinced that the bailout for debt-stricken Spanish banks will halt Europe's spreading debt crisis.
Markets worried the weekend deal could further aggravate Spain's rising public debt. Attention is turning to problems in Italy and a June 17 election in Greece that could determine its fate within the common currency bloc.
At the regional markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.70% to 8,564.10; Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 0.64% to 18,833.20; the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.80% to 2,287.44; Taiwan's Taiex shed 0.64% to 7,074.35; South Korea's Kospi was down 0.63% to 1,855.26; and Singapore's Straits Times Index shed 0.35% to 2,778.02.
BIMB Securities Research in a note Tuesday said that as expected, buying enthusiasm faded as soon as it started following scepticism over Spain's bailout plan for its banking sector. "We believe traders will continue to stoke investors' sentiments so long eurozone's problems remained unresolved," it said.
The research house said consequently the Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 143 points to 12,411. Now that Spain's banking crisis is amplified, European stocks all ended the day lower.
As for Asia, most closed higher attributed to the strong closing in the US overnight, it said. "Domestically, the FBM KLCI gained 7.8 points to almost touch the immediate resistance of 1,580. We expect there to be some profit taking today in view of the mixed outlook. Expect the index to trend lower to around the 1,570/75 region," it said.
Among the losers in the morning session on Tuesday were BAT, which fell RM1.16 to RM54.84; PPB was down 22 sen to RM15.76; Petronas Gas dropped 18 sen to RM17.82; Aeon Credit sunk 16 sen to RM10.50; GAB retreated 14 sen to RM13.46; Sungei Bagan declined 10 sen to RM2.80; while BLD Plantations and Bursa lost nine sen each to RM7.58 and RM6.06 respectively.
The actives included Luster shares and warrants, Naim Indah Corp, Gas Malaysia, Metronic, YTL Corp, Permaju, Iris Corp and Wijaya. Meanwhile, the gainers included Petronas Dagangan, Amtel, Amway, Ekovest, Tradewinds, Fajar and APM Automotive.